Maxim Nikonov

Film director and producer of interactive projects. Producer of the festival of new forms of cinematic art Kultura 360. Founder of the VR content production company VRKINO.
I create narrative and documentary films, produce videos, motion design, and digital content, and develop immersive virtual reality experiences.
Biography
Projects
The first full-length feature VR film in Russia. A biographical drama.
A dome film for planetariums. This is one of the first dome films in Russia that used complex combined scenes with real actors and 3D graphics. An artistic adventure story, 3 heroes in three time periods, and breathtaking shots of amazing nature from all over the Earth.
Kultura 360 is a new event in the VR film industry. From February 17 to 19, 2023, Saint Petersburg hosted open competitive screenings of the best Russian VR films, along with a series of masterclasses dedicated to VR filmmaking, open to audiences of all ages.
The festival’s competition program featured narrative and documentary works by Russian directors created in the 360° video format. Film selection was carried out with the participation of active VR industry experts and leading professionals from the film industry.
On March 2 2022, the series Korol i Shut about the legendary Russian punk band premiered on Kinopoisk. On the same day, the exhibition Punk Culture. Korol i Shut opened at the Winzavod Center for Contemporary Art in Moscow. Spread across two exhibition spaces, the show tells two parallel stories: a retrospective of punk as a phenomenon in music, fashion, and art, and the creative journey of the band Korol i Shut. Visitors can also explore the sets from the new series and immerse themselves in a punk fairy-tale world through VR technologies.
For me, it was an exciting opportunity to work with a true dream team behind the series and to direct a VR music video for the song Dead Anarchist. The piece is currently on view as part of the exhibition mentioned above.
Commissioned by the Institute for Internet Development (IRI) and produced in collaboration with Moviestart and Bazelevs studios, we created an educational historical mini-series in VR dedicated to Leo Tolstoy and Ivan Turgenev. The project is available on the Bazelevs YouTube channel.
Naturally, it is best experienced in a VR headset, but it also works beautifully on a smartphone screen.
Landscapes between reality and sleep, filmed on the territory of Lake Baikal in March 2021 during a three-week expedition around the lake.
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VR film about the history of Berlin for a museum in Berlin. In 2019, on these filming, the most difficult creative tasks in the Russian VR video production industry were solved. Combined CGI, motion capture, mass stage actors, 3D architectural modeling, historical reconstruction, costumes, natural effects simulation, 5.7K resolution.
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Pilot series of a web-series in vertical format for the first vertical video competition in Russia "Vertical". Filmed in 2020.
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Teaser shot by order of the Force Media film company in virtual reality format to promote the Russian horror film Dawn on VR platforms.
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An experimental virtual reality short fiction film filmed in 2017. The first Russian VR horror. Participant of the VR program of the 39th Moscow International Film Festival on June 23, 2017.
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The first documentary in Russia filmed in 360 video format about the ascent of Elbrus in 2016. Participant of the VR program of the 39th Moscow International Film Festival on June 23, 2017.
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For cooperation, training or purchase of works:
+7 (911) 975-14-28
maximnikonof@ya.ru
Maxim Nikonov