Alexey Pivovarov

Career

Pivovarov began his career in 1988 working in radio. In 2005 he became a news presenter for Evening News "Segodnya" ("Today"), usually appearing with Lilia Gildeeva, and for his own TV projects. At the beginning of his TV career, Pivovarov was a protégé of Leonid Parfyonov. In 2004-2005 when Parfyonov was fired from NTV, Pivovarov supported him with a sarcastic comment on the air, and was suspended from the Evening news as punishment. The news agency Reuters called Pivovarov "an unlikely opposition hero" after the website of the newspaper Kommersant reported that he allegedly refused to read the news on December 8, 2011 if he could not report on the ongoing protests in Moscow, which were being ignored by the state-controlled media. NTV denied that Pivovarov had made any ultimatum, and Pivovarov himself never confirmed the report.

Filmmaking

In recent years Pivovarov has written, produced and presented five docudramas about World War II: Rzhev: General Zhukov's Unknown Battle (2009); Moscow. Fall of 1941 (2010); The Captive Heroes of Brest (2010); Betrayal:The Story of Vlasov's Second Shock Army (2011); and June 22, 1941: Fateful Decisions (2011). Based on thorough research, newly released historic documents and interviews with experts and surviving witnesses, each film sheds new light on events of the recent past, deviating significantly from the version imposed by official soviet historiography.

In 2012, alongside documentary filmmakers Alexander Rastorguev and Pavel Kostomarov, Pivovarov created the documentary project “Srok” on political protests in Russia. Later, “Srok” was renamed Lenta.doc became a project on the old version of Lenta.ru, before Russia's media reforms of 2014. In 2014, the feature film Srok was assembled from the project's materials.

Aviator Production

Aviator Production is an independent production company launched by Pivovarov in 2009. It develops and produces documentary films, docudramas, feature films and TV shows for Russian Channels.

Personal life

Pivovarov is married to journalist Anna Schneider, and has a son named Ivan.

Honors and awards

Documentary film "Rzhev: General Zhukov’s Unknown Battle" was awarded a special prize at the 2009 "NIKA Ceremony" (the Russian Oscars).

In 2010 Pivovarov was the recipient of Russian GQ's Media Personality of the Year Award.