Alexander Shapiro

Directing

Alexander Shapiro

Alexander Shapiro (born January 1, 1969, Vladivostok, USSR) is a Ukrainian film director, screenwriter, and producer of Jewish descent. His creative output includes several dozen feature films, series, and music videos. His films have been featured at international film festivals, including the Berlinale, the Cannes Film Festival, the Bucharest International Film Festival, the Warsaw International…

Known For

PorNOPorNO · 2010
PorNO
4.52010
MovieDrama
Max films his friends having lecherous fun at his own birthday party; unaware of how it will change his life. Just out of high school, by haphazard, he becomes a big porno producer. His father, a principled police major, chases porno makers, not suspecting that one of them lives in his own apartment. Hoodlums and girls from good families, corrupted policemen, petty dealers find themselves in a luring and scary world of porno.
HappypeopleHappypeople · 2006
Happypeople
7.02006
MovieComedy
Well-to-do and rich friends are faced with an entertainment problem. There is nothing for them to be happy about. The resulting crisis is obvious to all, so the friends agree on the following game: every Wednesday, one player gives the other a task which is to be carried out by any means. The task can be rather strange, absurd, cruel, or impracticable. The next week, the two players trade places. The only restriction is that the task should not be life-threatening or result in committing a crime. The outer world as well as the friends' inner lives change as the weeks go by. Instead of looking for high-level, magnificent entertainment, the friends develop a taste for fantastic attractions – and ulti­mately rediscover joy in life.
CicutaCicuta · 2002
Cicuta
10.02002
MovieDrama
Pseudo-documentary style drama about drug addicts. In Kyiv, a dealer named Baroque receives an unknown psychedelic that opens access to another dimension.
ApartamentsApartaments · 2014
Apartaments
2014
MovieDrama
On his birthday, the famous dentist falls into the hands of cruel nurses, called from the mysterious subconscious by voluntary anesthesia. The plot of the picture covers only one day in the life of the characters, real and imaginary. The heroes find themselves in a cycle of events, in rented apartments. Where the worlds get closer…
20/20 Deserted Country20/20 Deserted Country · 2018
20/20 Deserted Country
7.02018
MovieFantasy
Ukraine, 2020. After the introduction of visa-free travel, everyone left abroad. Only eight people remain at home: a model, an engineer, an accountant, an IT specialist, a blogger, a prince, a Chinese spy, and a separatist. A Canadian director of Ukrainian descent arrives in the empty country and tries to understand who these people are and why they stayed.
Pick UpPick Up · 2008
Pick Up
2008
MovieComedy
A series of 26 short stories, each featuring a protagonist intent on meeting someone at a Kyiv nightclub. These stories depict a real-life scenario of club encounters, where the goal is to “pick up” - achieve sexual satisfaction swiftly for the thrill of it - all captured by a hidden camera.
EightEight · 2016
Eight
2016
MovieDrama
Six novellas present eight people who resolve to commit suicide. The stories interweave moments from disparate lives, each born of despair and urgent choice.
GuidebookGuidebook · 2004
Guidebook
6.72004
MovieDrama
Imagine that several cameras have moved from the outskirts to the center, capturing the most interesting and informative moments of city life in different parts of the city along the way. The characters of the film are its viewers: natives of Kyiv, provincials who have come to seek their fortune, capitalist tourists — in short, those who make life in the city so vibrant. Every day we find ourselves in a variety of situations and solve a multitude of issues, from renting an apartment in the center to finding a notary in Novobelychi — urban trends, tastes, prices, priorities, routes, the labor and real estate markets, the past, present, and future.

Filmography

Sort
HappypeopleHappypeople · 2006
Happypeople
7.02006
MovieComedy
Well-to-do and rich friends are faced with an entertainment problem. There is nothing for them to be happy about. The resulting crisis is obvious to all, so the friends agree on the following game: every Wednesday, one player gives the other a task which is to be carried out by any means. The task can be rather strange, absurd, cruel, or impracticable. The next week, the two players trade places. The only restriction is that the task should not be life-threatening or result in committing a crime. The outer world as well as the friends' inner lives change as the weeks go by. Instead of looking for high-level, magnificent entertainment, the friends develop a taste for fantastic attractions – and ulti­mately rediscover joy in life.

Screenplay