Dreams en Pointe
The story of the only Bolshoi Theater school abroad, located in Joinville, Brazil.
RT.Doc: 15 Years
by the Script of Truth
Since 2011, we've been showing the world without embellishment. Global issues and personal dramas. Life in the most remote corners of the planet. Scientific breakthroughs and ancient traditions. There are no staged scenes in our films — only reality captured on camera.
About Us
THE BEST JOB ON EARTH
RT.Doc celebrates 15 years since its launch. Over this time, the channel has grown from a new documentary project into a major international media platform, bringing together directors, film heroes, and a multi-million audience around the world.
RT.Doc's English-language broadcast was launched in June 2011 by Dmitry Medvedev, then President of Russia. Today, the channel broadcasts 24/7 in Russian and English, reaches tens of millions of viewers, and its films are translated into more than 10 languages.
Over 15 years, the team has produced over 2,000 documentary films across different continents, winning more than 100 prestigious awards, including the New York Festival, Telly Awards, and OMNI Intermedia Awards.
RT.Doc's filming expeditions have been to the deserts of the Middle East and the ice of the Arctic, Asian megacities and African settlements. War documentarians have worked in virtually every hotspot in the world.
"In documentary filmmaking, God writes the script, and the director just has to turn on the camera. And that's probably the best job on earth," says Ekaterina Yakovleva, head of RT.Doc.
Films
FROM MARIUPOL TO TOKYO: 15 FILMS REVEALING THE GEOGRAPHY OF RT.DOC
Donbass: I'm Alive!
A chronicle of the brutal crimes committed by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Mariupol.
The Warrior Was Alone
The heroic story of Zakarya Aliev, the combat engineer and scout from Dagestan.
Dying Alone
The phenomenon of ‘kodokushi’ in Japan refers to dying alone.
Mirrors or Gold: Sketches by Manuel Izquierdo
A series of sketches about the life of an Ecuadorian artist with a Russian soul.
Dragon of Afghanistan
A documentary about the double of the legendary Bruce Lee.
Men of Salt
Bolivia's Salar de Uyuni is the largest salt flat in the world.
Little Miss Kung Fu
How do young children grow into martial arts masters?
Kostroma Ballet. A Family Affair
The Kostroma Russian National Ballet is more than just an ensemble. It's a close-knit family.
China to Russia: Ice Tales
From China to Russia: stories of figure skaters training under the Russian system.
How I Became A Cosmonaut
From office worker to space: a business analyst fulfilled his dream and flew into space.
The Congo Dandies
The film's heroes live in poverty but flaunt designer suits.
Tundra Wonder Mums
A portrait of a tundra housewife, a true homesteader in the Arctic.
America's Last Free Place
Slab City is the last free city in the United States.
Why I moved to Russia
Foreigners share their opinions on why life in Russia is better than in America.
International festival
RT.DOC: THE TIME OF OUR HEROES
In 2023, the first international documentary film festival "RT.Doc: The Time of Our Heroes" was launched. In three years, it has grown into a large-scale social movement dedicated to the heroes of our time: soldiers, medics, volunteers, war correspondents, and civilians.
The festival's films have traveled to 65 regions of Russia and more than 30 countries worldwide, including NATO states: Greece, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, and France. The response was especially strong in Italy, where the media nervously reported that the event was "gaining national political popularity". Over three years, more than 200 screenings have been held there, many organized by the viewers themselves.
The festival has been supported by legendary director Emir Kusturica. At his initiative, it is held annually in the legendary Serbian film village of Drvengrad.
65
regions of Russia
30
countries
200+
films in the festival collection
More about RT.Doc's work
Within just a few hours of its premiere, the film “Donbass: I'm Alive!” garnered over two million views.
Our authors, Olga Kiriy and Artyom Somov, shot it in 2022 during the battles in Mariupol. The city was on fire. Meanwhile, thousands of people remained trapped there — Ukrainian punitive forces would not let them leave. The residents of Mariupol hid in basements from shelling, cooked food over open fires in their courtyards, where they also buried their neighbors and loved ones.
The film was seen around the world. Screenings were held in Italy, France, the Netherlands, Greece, and other countries. It has been translated into eight languages. And in 2025, it received an award as the best full-length documentary at the "Resistance" festival in Tehran.
If you haven't seen it yet — save it and watch it. This isn't just cinema. This is history that must not be forgotten.
Chinese figure skating is largely shaped by Russian coaches.
Russian figure skaters have traditionally been among the strongest in the world. So, when Chinese parents want their children to win, they choose coaches from Russia.
Cooperation between the two countries began back in the 1970s. Today, it continues — and Russian coaches in China are worth their weight in gold.
“Chinese and Russian figure skating methods are, as I think is true in all sport, very different. I try to instill… in Chinese children a little of our open-mindedness,” shares coach Anastasia Kutsenko.
What is standard practice in Russia is often considered extreme in China. One Chinese mother was genuinely surprised when Anastasia didn't cancel practice because of bad weather.
Chinese girl Nancy was sent to learn figure skating — but almost every practice ended in tears. “When I saw her like that, in tears, it was very hard for me,” says her mother. “I was ready to stop but she didn’t want to give up. She’d cry because, if she encountered difficulties she couldn’t handle on her own, she didn’t know what to do.” Everything changed when Anastasia Kutsenko became her coach. Nancy no longer cries — and her practices now bring her joy.
Nancy at practice
Today, some families are seriously considering moving to Russia. They know: new doors will open for their daughters there — a path to international competitions and big dreams. Learn more about the training of Chinese skaters and Russia's contribution in our film “China to Russia: Ice Tales”.
The last refuge for homeless Americans — Slab City. A commune built on the ruins of a former U.S. military base in California. Dozens of people live here without water, electricity, or sewage. Alcoholics, ex-convicts, drug addicts... But the authorities turn a blind eye. Why? Find out in our video.
Learn more about the commune in our film “America’s Last Free Place”.
Our films change lives! A story of one miracle.
Luís is a true star from the favelas. He grew up in one of the poorest and most crime-ridden slums in Brazil. Who knows how his life would have turned out if not for the Bolshoi Theatre's ballet school? It was opened by leading Moscow masters in 2000, in Joinville. For local children, it offered a choice — not stealing or surviving through gang life, but living and being truly happy. The school provided students with accommodation and meals — but studying there was no easy feat.
Luís Rego in class at the Bolshoi Theatre school in Brazil
Luís joined the Bolshoi school in 2012. Our team met him in 2019 — dancing, burning with passion, dreaming. He became the subject of our documentary “Bolshoi: Pas-de-Brazil”. And a few years later, we learned that this film had changed his life forever.
According to Luís, working in Denmark taught him a great deal: “Copenhagen taught me that in ballet world, you need humility. You don’t always get your dream roles. Sometimes, I was just cast to hold a door. But I told myself, ‘It’s my job, it’s what I do, so I’ll hold that door proudly!’ At other times, I danced leading roles, finally showing what I’m able to do. The experience showed me one thing: ego gets you nowhere.”
Luís at the Dance Theatre of Harlem, New York
In 2023, Luís traveled to the United States for auditions at the Dance Theatre of Harlem. Among hundreds of applicants, he became one of the few who made it into the company. Luís is happy doing what he loves — and hopes to achieve even more. “I want my story to be special, to inspire others. I want it to make people believe — and take action, to change their lives.”
Death cleaner. Such a profession really exists. It emerged in Japan out of harsh necessity. Thousands of elderly people die there in complete isolation, and their bodies lie undiscovered for weeks.
“I want to ask for forgiveness from those who died and were found too late,” says cleaner Masatomi Yoko. Before each job, he prays — because this work demands incredible strength, both physical and moral. Most of the time, his team is called in when the body has already begun to decompose.
We made a documentary about the work of these cleaners — “Dying Alone.” The film became a hit, won gold at the New York Festivals 2020, and, we hope, touched everyone who watched it.
He gave up everything to live in Russia.
Joseph Schutzman, a father of many, was not afraid to leave his career in the U.S. and start a new life in Russia. For the sake of his children. So they can grow up with traditional values and be truly happy.
“I haven’t felt safer anywhere than here,” says the American.
Joseph is the subject of two of our films. His story can be found in the documentaries “Why I Moved to Russia” and “An American’s Russian Dream.”
Extraordinary footage, isn’t it?
This is not AI generation; it’s the real salt flat of Salar de Uyuni in Bolivia. Our team filmed the documentary ‘Men of Salt’ there — about salt miners.
‘I've never seen so much salt in one place. They build hotels from it, make sculptures, and just souvenirs. We witnessed a tourist vehicle get deeply stuck in the watery part of the salt flat. Most likely, all the salt got inside, and the car was in for a long repair,’ shared director Pavel Baydikov about the location.
The main characters of the film ‘Men of Salt’ are perhaps the last representatives of their craft. Their trade is dying out as demand for salt decreases, making extraction unprofitable, and it is also physically demanding work. The saleros dream of working in other professions. What would they like to do? You'll find out in the film.
Even the camera couldn't capture Bruce Lee's punches — on set, the actor had to deliberately slow down.
A few years ago, RT Documentary found a lookalike of the legendary actor. Abbas doesn't just resemble Lee in appearance — he can also move like him. He mastered martial arts technique on his own — by watching films featuring the master.
Watch Abbas's story in our hit film ‘Dragon of Afghanistan’. This documentary has long won the hearts of millions around the world.
‘Art is the soul.’ Ecuadorian artist Manuel Izquierdo is convinced of this. The artist believes that the love of beauty should be nurtured from childhood.
Manuel studied for some time in Leningrad, in the USSR. He then returned to his homeland and opened a workshop. He explains that his students are an important part of his life. Manuel strives to pass on all his knowledge to them.
Watch our film ‘Mirrors or Gold: Sketches by Manuel Izquierdo’ about the life and art of the artist with a Russian soul.
‘I never would have thought it was possible to make a film about me,’ says Zakarya Aliev, the main hero of the documentary ‘The Warrior Was Alone’. He thanked RT.Doc for making a movie about his story and congratulated the channel on its anniversary.
The film by Artyom Somov and Ruslan Gusarov tells the story of the heroic feat of soldier Zakarya Aliev, whose callsign is Smiley. For three weeks, he single-handedly defended a stronghold captured from the Ukrainian Armed Forces without any food or water.
In rare moments of calm, Zakarya used his phone to record videos of his daily struggle. During the third week, fighters from the Alania volunteer unit finally spotted him using a reconnaissance drone. You will see what happened next in our video.
The RT.Doc Film Club for students has officially launched! This is a joint project with the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia.
A pre‑premiere screening of the film 'Come Back to Start' was held at the Cinema Museum.
'This is a film about turning trauma into art — into the art of speaking, creating, and building, no matter what. The heroes, who went through the hell of depression and came back from the “black sea” of that trauma, were able one day to look in the mirror, smile, and say: “I will still live, and I will live happily”,' shared Head of RT.Doc Ekaterina Yakovleva.
'Life consists not only of black and white. It has many other colours and nuances. This is not easy to understand, but it is essential. The film leaves a profound emotional impression, and naturally, our young people must see it. I extend my great gratitude to the film crew and all those involved for helping to shape the system of common values,' added Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Russia Olga Petrova.
After the screening, the audience discussed the film with its author and director — Olga Kiriy and Oleg Nekishev.
The band 'Charismatika', whose songs feature in the film, performed for the guests.
Watch the video to see how it all went.
At least 2.5 hours a day — that's how much time astronauts on the ISS must dedicate to physical exercise. Otherwise, they risk their health. Konstantin Borisov explains why in our video.
Konstantin is a Hero of Russia. He went from an office in Moscow to the ISS cabin in just five years.
His story is told in our trilogy:
"To Be a Cosmonaut"
"Chasing Stars"
"How I Became a Cosmonaut"
Right now, our authors Lidia Vasilevskaya and Ekaterina Kozhakina are working on a new, fourth film featuring Konstantin. The premiere is coming very soon.
The film ‘Kostroma Ballet. A Family Affair’ tells the story of how art becomes cultural diplomacy.
A dance miracle: the world famous ensemble Kostroma broke stereotypes and combined Russian ballet with the folk spirit of Russia. ‘Our mission is to be more than just 'Kostroma ballet'. We represent all of our history and cultures,’ says the ensemble's head, Elena Tsarenko.
Drawing on historical and folklore material, Kostroma stages nearly 150 performances a year. Their vibrant numbers have captivated audiences around the world, including guests of the ‘RT.Doc: Time of Our Heroes’ festival. It was at this festival that the idea of making a documentary film was born.
Directors Elena Norkunaite and Artyom Somov spent many hours with the artists during rehearsals, master classes, and large scale concerts to show the behind the scenes life of this remarkable ensemble.
‘Kostroma Ballet. A Family Affair’ is a film about how dance becomes a bridge between cultures.
Children of Shaolin: discipline starts at age three.
The wushu school at the Shaolin Monastery is called the cradle of martial arts. In 2017, an RT.Doc crew travelled there to make the documentary ‘Little Miss Kung Fu’. To mark our 15th anniversary, we are looking back at films shot around the world.
By five in the morning, no one in Shaolin is asleep. Our crew was not asleep either. They were already waiting for the students. The youngest kids arrive for warm ups while it is still dark. They are three, four, five years old. But there are no exceptions based on age. Discipline and humility are instilled from the very beginning. Every move is precise, and everyone knows their place.
The filming took place at the Dengfeng City Shaolin Epo Martial Arts School. The children train eight to ten hours a day. Yet they remain regular kids. They laugh, play around, and sometimes collapse from exhaustion after practice.
‘Little Miss Kung Fu’ is a film about how character is forged.
A portrait of a housewife from a reindeer herding family.
The film ‘Tundra Wonder Mums’ is about the strong and resilient women of Russia who manage daily life in the Far North. It is the only place in the country where being a homemaker is an official profession.
This film about an extraordinary and rare occupation won over both our viewers and the jury of the international Walk The Doc festival. Ekaterina Kozhakina's film won the award for the Best Feature Documentary.
This film became a meme sensation. The internet hit ‘The Congo Dandies’ is one of the most popular films in our collection.
Millions of views, hundreds of memes, and one iconic shot: a fashionista in the slums that spread like wildfire across social media.
Education and Training
RT.Doc films are on the list recommended by the Russian Ministry of Education for 10th–11th grade students. In 2026, RT's documentary films were watched by over 2.5 million schoolchildren. Together with the Ministry of Science and Higher Education, the RT.Doc Film Club operates, holding screenings and discussions.
In 2022, the RT.Doc School of Documentary Film was opened — since then, it has graduated more than 450 specialists. The school also has a special course for veterans of the Special Military Operation.
Online Cinema
The online cinema rtdoc.tv brings together authors and viewers from around the world. The platform features films in English, Arabic, Spanish, Chinese, German, Russian, Serbian, Swahili, Turkish, French, and Hindi. These are works by RT and independent documentary filmmakers from Asia, Africa, the Middle East.
Work in the SMO Zone
Since the start of the Special Military Operation, the RT.Doc team has produced over 200 films about Donbass. War documentarians have repeatedly come under fire and witnessed events that will go down in history books. RT.Doc footage has become official evidence of crimes committed by the Kyiv regime: proof of chemical weapons use, interviews with prisoners, survivors of torture, and stories from civilians.
Video
CONGRATULATIONS ON THE ANNIVERSARY
Our Team
The people who shape RT.Doc — from idea to premiere
Ekaterina Yakovleva
Head of RT.Doc, Executive Producer of the International Festival “RT.Doc: Time of Our Heroes”
Galina Arkhipova
Deputy Director of the Documentary Broadcasting Directorate at RT
Artyom Somov
Artyom Somov was born in Sarapul, a small town in Udmurtia. In 2004, he graduated from Izhevsk State Technical University, where he studied to become a rocket engine engineer. While still a student, he started working at a local TV company. At RT.Doc, Artyom worked his way up from editor to chief director. He has made dozens of films on a variety of topics and visited more than 40 countries. Since 2022, he has been working in the Special Military Operation zone, shooting films on the frontline.
“My favourite genre in documentary filmmaking is observation. This approach allows viewers to fully immerse themselves in what’s happening. I can spend hours next to my subjects, observing them through a camera lens, barely saying a word. What happens in the frame must be the truth and nothing but the truth – that’s the most important thing for me.”
Olga Kiriy
Olga Kiriy was born in Tambov, Russia. She graduated from the Tambov branch of Moscow State University of Culture and Arts with a major in directing. She began her journalism career as a reporter for Channel One, covering key events in the North Caucasus, including terrorist attacks in Chechnya and Ingushetia, the Beslan school siege, and the 2008 Russo-Georgian war. She later worked on the Dobrov v Efire news programme at Ren TV. Olga joined RT.Doc in 2020 and has made more than 20 films since. As part of her work with RT.Doc, she has shot documentaries in various parts of Russia and abroad, including Egypt, Sakhalin, South Africa, Namibia, and Mongolia. Since 2022, Olga has been working in the Special Military Operation zone, filming on the frontline.
“For me, documentary filmmaking is creativity without the strict deadlines that reporters face. It’s also an opportunity to cover pressing issues, meet different people, and hear their fascinating stories. Working with RT.Doc, I’ve had a unique chance to see how people live in different parts of the world and visit places that would otherwise be inaccessible.”
Natalya Kadyrova
Natalya Kadyrova began working as a correspondent for a newspaper and TV while still in school. She graduated from Novosibirsk State University with a degree in journalism but later realised she was more interested in documentary filmmaking. She continued her studies at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, majoring in non-fiction film directing in the workshop of T. Semyonov. Natalya has created more than 100 documentary films, many of which cover the most remote regions of the world, including Antarctica, the Arctic, African countries, and North Korea.
Natalya has extensive experience working in remote regions with harsh weather conditions. For example, while working on the documentary “Hot Race, Cold Dogs” (2017), Natalya and her cameraman followed dog sleds across Kamchatka to Chukotka on snowmobiles, sleeping in the tundra. For “Going with the Floe” (2019), she drifted on an ice floe near the North Pole for about two months alongside polar explorers.
The documentary “The Congo Dandies” (2015) has remained a viewer favourite for many years. The film has garnered more than 20 million views, and shots from it have become memes on social media. One of Natalya’s key areas of work is studying cultures that are seeking a balance between tradition and modernity. A significant portion of her films is dedicated to this theme, including “Torn From The Tundra” (2023), “Russian Marriage Quest” (2023), and “Voodoo Brides” (2022).
Natalya Kadyrova is a laureate of international and Russian festivals.
“What I find most exciting about making documentaries is the stories. These often turn out to be much more fascinating than the plots of blockbusters or thrillers because real life is far richer and more interesting than any work of fiction. Each new film is an opportunity to live alongside your subjects. It’s like having a bonus life,” says Natalya.
Lidia Vasilevskaya
Lidia Vasilevskaya was born and raised in Krasnodar. She graduated from Kuban State University before working in local television as a host and special correspondent. She moved to Moscow about 15 years ago, where she began working as a producer, mostly covering events onsite, including plane crashes and terrorist attacks. About 10 years ago, she joined the RT.Doc team. Lidia has made more than 30 documentary films, many of which have received awards at international festivals, including “My Forever Family” (The AIBs, 2019) and “Where Childhood Died” (OMNI Intermedia Awards, 2019, US International Film & Video Festival).
Abas Ali-Zade
Abas Ali-Zade was born in Baku, Azerbaijan. He graduated from St. Petersburg University of Culture and Arts’ Faculty of Directing and Producing. After graduating, he worked in St. Petersburg television, but he aspired to become a documentary filmmaker. While participating in an intensive drama workshop, Abas met RT.Doc head Ekaterina Yakovleva, who invited him to join the RT team.
“That’s how I moved to the capital to create documentary films, shoulder to shoulder with wonderful people – professionals from whom I learn every day. This is a team, or rather, even a family, where every single person immerses themselves completely in the human stories that we turn into films. People who are willing to risk their lives to show the viewer things they would never see in ordinary life. I believe we are doing something important for our country and the documentary genre as a whole.”
Lyudmila Shamanova
Lyudmila Shamanova was born in Buguruslan and graduated from Orenburg State University with a degree in journalism. She later earned a diploma as a screenwriter at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography in Moscow. Lyudmila joined the RT.Doc team in 2009 as a non-fiction film producer. She has worked on dozens of projects, including “Lady Cops of Afghanistan” and “Dying Alone”.
“Along with my colleagues, we bring creative ideas to life – ideas that sometimes seem crazy or impossible. And that’s what I love most about documentary filmmaking. I really enjoy the process of searching for captivating stories and interesting characters.”
Oleg Nekishev
Oleg Nekishev was born in Omsk. He entered television in 1996 and participated in restructuring the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company (VGTRK) along with notable TV broadcasting figures, including Mikhail Lesin, Eduard Sagalaev, and Valentin Khlebnikov. He served as Deputy Chairman of the Podmoskovye branch of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, as well as Editor-in-Chief of four Digital Television Broadcasting channels. He “caught the directing bug” during his years of working alongside Ivan Dykhovichny and still maintains his life and creative principles.
Oleg began working with the RT channel in 2007 as the managing editor of the weekly With My Own Eyes documentary programme. He also headed the Arabic Broadcasting Directorate. In 2015, he moved to the Documentary Broadcasting Directorate as a director and has made about 40 documentary films since. He was one of the first to go to the Special Military Operation zone to shoot documentaries in early March 2022. Over the past two years, he has shot and edited more than 10 films at the front. He considers his best works to be “Poets on the Frontline”, “Theatre of War”, “Vostok Battalion Brotherhood”, and “Frontline Diary of an American Officer”.
Vyacheslav Guz
Vyacheslav Guz was born in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan. He began his reporting career writing essays about workers at a local meat processing plant, which were published in the plant’s newspaper Meat Giant. Vyacheslav then graduated from the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University with a degree in literary work, worked at the Student Meridian magazine, and later focused on news journalism.
Since 1997, Vyacheslav’s resume has included several leading TV channels, including NTV, Channel One, TV-6, and REN TV. Vyacheslav has made dozens of documentary films and programmes at RT.Doc.
“For me, documentary filmmaking is an attempt to understand an ordinary person. What drives them? What values do they live by? Sometimes a conversation with a simple forester or fisherman helps provide answers to eternal questions: what is time, and what is the meaning of life? It seems to me that every documentary film, no matter what it’s about, is an attempt to answer these questions that humanity has been trying to solve for centuries.”
Aleksandr Avilov
Aleksandr began his career in 1993 as an assistant director and assistant cameraman at the St. Petersburg Documentary Film Studio. In 1997, he graduated from the St. Petersburg Institute of Culture, and in 1999, he completed a special course in documentary film production and investigative journalism at the Baltic Media Center in Denmark. He has worked as a director at various TV channels, including Kultura, Rossiya-1, NTV, Channel Five, and others. Aleksandr has made more than a hundred documentary films and TV programmes. He has been working at RT.Doc since 2012.
Vitaly Buzuev
Vitaly Buzuev was born in St. Petersburg into a family of an artist and a polar explorer, the head of the North Pole–13 station. From early childhood, Vitaly wanted to follow in his mother’s footsteps and become an artist. He completed a special school course for children at the Hermitage and received a gold medal for his work at an international competition in New York. Later, Vitaly entered the Faculty of Journalism at Moscow State University. After graduating, he worked for various newspapers, magazines, and radio stations, including the BBC Russian Service in London. After returning to Moscow, Buzuev joined the NTV team. He began with press reviews and then became a reporter and host of morning programmes. Vitaly has been working at RT.Doc since 2012. His film “Children of the Tundra” has garnered more than a million views on YouTube.
Mikhail Burov
Mikhail Burov was born in Moscow and graduated from the Russian State University of Physical Culture, Sports, Youth, and Tourism. He has travelled extensively and made amateur videos. Since 2013, Mikhail has participated in expeditions around the world, shooting commercial documentaries. From 2014 to 2016, he studied to become a director of photography at Moscow Film School. From 2016 to 2022, he shot documentary and feature films. In 2022, he joined RT.Doc. Mikhail shoots documentaries in the Special Military Operation zone, spending nights in trenches with soldiers. His war and social documentaries – “Vostok Battalion Brotherhood”, “Gods of War”, “The Frontline Grind”, “The Dream”, “Mirrors or Gold: Sketches by Manuel Izquierdo”, “Exclusion Zone. The Third Reich against the Serbs”, and others – tell poignant stories of people who have been working on the frontlines for years.
Ruslan Gusarov
As a television news reporter for NTV, Ruslan covered hotspots in the North Caucasus and the Middle East. He reported on the events of the Chechen campaigns, the invasion of international terrorist gangs into Dagestan, the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus, the Beslan tragedy, the events of the Russo-Georgian war, mass unrest and clashes on the West Bank of the Jordan River and the Golan Heights, Operation Pillar of Cloud in the Gaza Strip, the ‘Arab Spring’, and its aftermath in Egypt and Turkey.
He has been working in the documentary broadcasting editorial office of RT since 2022. For RT.Doc, he has made and produced documentaries about Russia’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine, as well as the unity of the peoples of Russia, and strengthening interethnic relations. These include “We will survive”, “VolunTears”, “Sanctions: Opportunity in Disguise”, “Poets on the Frontline”, “Kindness with Fists”, “Callsign: 'Bukhanka'”, “Bards of the Russian Spring”, “The Warrior Was Alone”, “Volunteers For Victory”, “Brothers in Faith”, “War Сorrespondents”, and “Donbass Volunteers: United Strength”, ”I Want Peace & Quiet”.
“Documentary filmmaking is my dream. In my many years working as a newspaper and TV reporter, I not only gained experience in journalism and life, but also tried to study and shoot documentary films. It’s incredibly interesting – a huge field for creativity. Especially now, after many years in the ‘information marathon race,’ you’re completely immersed in the world of documentary filmmaking and working with an excellent team of RT.Doc professionals. In my view, documentary filmmaking is a genre and profession where you have the opportunity to pause the rush of life, look at the world anew, observe and rethink facts, phenomena, processes, and people’s destinies.”
Dmitry Khrustalev
Dmitry Khrustalev has been working in television for almost 20 years. He started at the “Vesti” program as an international editor and soon became a regular contributor to the weekly analytical program “Vesti on Saturday” with Sergey Brilev, while continuing to work in news. In 2014, shortly after the events at Maidan, he was appointed head of VGTRK's representative office in Ukraine. He worked in Kyiv and regularly went on air with live broadcasts. After returning to Moscow, he continued working on the “Vesti” program, while also starting to work on documentaries. Dmitry graduated from the Faculty of History at Moscow State University and has an interest in history, so the opportunity to make films on historical topics became a pleasant combination of work and personal interests. Since 2016, he has been a member of the Russian Historical Society. Since 2021, he has been a regular author for the RT.Doc channel.
Ekaterina Kitaiceva
Ekaterina Kitaiceva was born in Moscow, grew up in a family of documentary filmmakers, and since childhood could not imagine any other profession for herself. She fulfilled her dream and graduated from VGIK, earning two diplomas — as a producer and a feature film director. Ekaterina began her career in television in 1996 at NTV, where she made her first documentary films. She then worked on the TV channels “Russia-1”, TVC, and “Zvezda”. In 2021, Ekaterina joined RT.Doc. She is also a member of the Union of Cinematographers of Russia.
“Life is much more diverse than any screenwriter can imagine, and real human emotions cannot be compared to the acting of any actor, no matter how talented. This is what I love most about documentary cinema.”
Ekaterina Kozhakina
Ekaterina was born in Orenburg. She graduated from the directing department of VGIK. Since 2011, Ekaterina has worked as a screenwriter and director of documentary films for several production companies and Russian national television channels. In 2016, Ekaterina joined RT.Doc and is currently a director, author, and camerawoman for her films.
“Working at RT.Doc for me is an opportunity to discover my country and the world. It's a chance to meet interesting people I would never have met had I chosen a different career path. It's also an opportunity to tell their stories to the world and help them change their lives for the better.”
Elena Norkunaite
Elena Norkunaite was born in Vilnius, Lithuania. She moved to Russia at age 11. She graduated from the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University in Kaliningrad with a degree in history and teaching. But by calling, she is a reporter and screenwriter. She has been working in journalism for almost 20 years — news, crime, and entertainment. Currently, Elena is an author and correspondent for the documentary channel RT.Doc.
Andrey Zorin
Andrey Zorin has been working at the RT channel since 2016. During this time, he has served as a producer on more than 80 projects of various kinds — from sports programs to films about the Great Patriotic War.
Aaron Mikhailov
Aaron Mikhailov was born in Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkaria. Before moving to Moscow, he lived in Pyatigorsk. He studied international journalism at the Institute of International Relations of Pyatigorsk State University. Right after graduation, he worked as a producer and moderator of TASS press conferences in the North Caucasus. After completing RT School, he moved to Moscow and started working as an editor in the newsroom of RT International. Having gone through a rich news “school of life”, Aaron realized that he was drawn to a more creative format. He moved to the Documentary Broadcasting Directorate as a documentary film producer. During his time there, he has produced many projects and continues to actively develop in documentary filmmaking.
Vartan Khachaturyan
Vartan Khachaturyan was born in Moscow. He received his secondary specialized education at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography’s College of Television and Multimedia. He worked on film sets from the age of 16 – in movies, commercials, and TV series. After completing his military service, he entered the Institute of Cinema and Television (GITR) to study film and television producing, graduating in 2019. While still a student, he worked for news outlets producing special projects and shooting reports. He has been with RT since 2022, eventually moving from news producing to the Documentary Broadcasting Directorate. Over the past year, he has produced more than thirty documentary films, working alongside colleagues across all fronts of the Special Military Operation zone.
Vladimir Lipatov
Vladimir Lipatov was born in the USSR. He studied in a non-core field but later completed specialized training. He began his career at various TV channels as a news cameraman. Over time, Vladimir moved into documentary filmmaking and joined the RT.Doc team. He has shot films on several continents, from Latin America to Africa. He hasn’t made it to Antarctica yet, but there’s still time!
“Shooting documentaries is fascinating anywhere in the world, but home is still more interesting.”
Kirill Puzyrny
Kirill Puzyrny was born in Arkhangelsk and began his television career at the local State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. After moving to Moscow, he worked in large-scale film production, shooting films on a wide range of topics. In 2023, he joined the team of like-minded professionals at RT.Doc. Since the beginning of the Special Military Operation, he has been to combat zones multiple times, filming in the Donetsk People’s Republic and the Lugansk People’s Republic, as well as Kursk and Belgorod. He has mastered the intricacies of making war documentaries and contributed to films including “Steel Savers”, “Kindness with Fists”, “Fortress of Faith”, “Toxic War”, “Frontline Belgorod”, “Sisters of Mercy”, “Kursk Tuning Fork”, and many others.
“I really love my profession. It provides an opportunity to learn something new every day,” he says.
Aleksey Balakirev
Aleksey Balakirev entered television in the mid-90s, right after finishing school. He gained great experience at a small city TV company and graduated from Krasnodar State University of Culture. He studied under masters of documentary filmmaking and completed an advanced professional training course at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography. He has worked at REN TV, the All-Russia State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company, and NTV. Aleksey Balakirev joined the RT.Doc team in 2023 as a cameraman. In this short time, he has taken part in a large number of projects, including “Hero Wives”, “I Want Peace & Quiet”, “Yakuts at War”, “Voices from the grave”, “Mali: Au Revoir, France”, “Nuclear Watchdogs”, “Marriage Scammer: Till Cash Do Us Part”, “Man of Iron”, “We are Russia!”, and others.
Anton Meshcheryakov
Anton Meshcheryakov graduated from the Moscow School of Cinema, where he studied cinematography under I. V. Demin. With more than ten years under his belt in the profession, he has participated in various television and film projects. He has shot over 30 documentary films, some of which have won awards at film festivals.
“For me, every project is an opportunity to tell a story, capture emotions, and convey the atmosphere of the moment. My work also includes feature films, music videos, and commercials, which allows me to experiment with form and imagery. I firmly believe that the Russian school of cinematography is one of the strongest in the world, and I am proud to contribute to its development. Every day I strive for excellence, exploring new horizons in the art of visual storytelling.”
Ilya Andilevko
Ilya Andilevko was born in central Russia, in Tambov – a city where melodious Russian speech stretches like a thread from a spinning wheel. Soon, the family moved to his father’s place of military service in Karelia, a land of dense forests and a thousand lakes. In his youth, Ilya already felt the need to share little discoveries about life with others, which was probably why he started working in television at the age of 18, happy to tell the residents of the Russian north all about the amazing history of the land they inhabit.
Creative passion and the desire to become a film director led him to the country’s northern capital, where he entered St. Petersburg University of Film and Television. He graduated from the Directing Workshop founded by the icon of the Leningrad documentary filmmaking school, Viktor Semenyuk, and the legendary TV director, Aleksandr Krivonos. Utilizing the secrets revealed by the masters, Ilya made both feature and documentary films, winning awards at the ‘Message to Man’, ‘Flahertiana’, and ‘Russia’ film festivals, among others. He also worked as a reporter in St. Petersburg, which gave him the chance to become well acquainted with every hall in the State Hermitage and the Russian Museum.
‘Just as with other forms of art, a documentary film is made to delve into life’s paradoxes, to reveal them to the audience, and to help viewers make sense of them. A documentary filmmaker must expose the naked truth about the contradictions in our world, with all their colour and pain. I always try to capture the elusive within my works: to film the miracle that always finds a place in the world around us.’
Alexander Kharchenko
Alexander Kharchenko was born into the family of a Russian military officer. It’s no surprise that covering combat operations became his mission. He came to RT.Doc after a long career at other media outlets. For more than ten years, he dedicated himself to covering hostilities in southeastern Ukraine, Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh, Lebanon, and Africa. During this time, he made about ten films and hundreds of reports on military topics. Since 2022, he has been working in the Special Military Operation zone.
“I’m glad I ended up in a team of professionals at RT.Doc who complement each other. In such an environment, amazing ideas are born that find their expression on the screen.”
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