Aleksei Yefimovich Uchitel was born on August 31, 1951 in Leningrad to the family of documentary filmmaker Yefim Uchitel. In 1975 he graduated from VGIK, worked at the Leningrad studio of documentary films. In 1990 he founded his film studio "Rock". Uchitel's directorial debut was the film Mania of Giselle. In 2000, he received the Nika Award, the Kinotavr Grand Prix and the Crystal Globe nomination for His Wife's Diary. The film was about the last love affair of Ivan Bunin. His 2003 film The Stroll was entered into the 25th Moscow International Film Festival. His 2005 film Dreaming of Space won the Golden George at the 27th Moscow International Film Festival. In 2006 he was a member of the jury at the 28th Moscow International Film Festival. His 2010 film The Edge was selected as the Russian entry for theBest Foreign LanguageFilm at the 83rd Academy Awards but it did not make the final shortlist. His film Break Loose was selected to be screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. The romantic drama Matilda directed by Uchitel about the relationship bet- ween ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya and Nicholas II was released on October 23, 2017. Sellected filmography - Rock (1987); Last Hero. Victor Isoi. (1992); Giseles Mania (1996); His Wife's Diary (2000); The Stroll (2003); Dreaming of Space (2005); Captive (2008); The Edge (2010); Break Loose (2013); Matilda (2017); Tsoi (2020).