Who is Eugene Nikitin?
Eugene Nikitin is a Siberian-born filmmaker, director, and photographer who’s carving a name for himself through experimental, cinematic visuals rooted in stories of disenfranchised youth. His family is currently in Georgia, although today he speaks from Belgrade, and soon he plans to move to Paris.
At just 24, Eugene travels the world, creating music videos, visuals, and films for artists aligned with his creative vision. Eugene’s work exists across multiple platforms and mediums: online, at festivals and exhibitions, and in print.
Eugene’s filmmaking style treads the line between cinematic and pop culture, and his creative process is as unique as his concepts. He painstakingly plans each frame to match his vision, putting just as much emphasis on the planning stage as the execution itself.
Since 2020, Eugene’s worked with Artlist Original to create stock footage for the catalog, combining familiar industry techniques with fresh, experimental approaches to image-making. Today he shares the stories behind his most boundary-pushing films, as well as advice for filmmakers who want to carve their own creative path.
What is Artlist Original?
Artlist Original is a curated collection of cinematic stock footage created by independent filmmakers and visual artists. Exclusive to Artlist, this footage showcases high-quality, creative clips that go beyond typical stock content, with a focus on unique storytelling, striking visuals, and artistic expression. Designed for filmmakers, editors, and content creators, Artlist Original Footage can be used in a huge range of creative projects while supporting the independent artists behind the work.
Roots, vision, and experimentation
Born and raised in Tomsk, a small city in Siberia, Eugene first picked up a camera on a hiking trip with school friends. “We were in the mountains and I just started to film a few action shots,” he remembers. “I discovered I enjoyed filming travel and road trips, so I started to improve my equipment and my skills.”
Eugene grew up surrounded by cinema-lovers. “That was always the family evening, watching movies, and that’s how I decided I wanted to be a director,” he says.
So, once he graduated, he moved to Moscow, where he studied cinema as a Director of Photography, before heading to St Petersburg to learn how to direct. He began making videos at the age of 19. “Just small videos, to learn how to work with a team, try different types of cameras, and image creation,” he says. “Like we did print, we did film, night vision stuff, and just tried to find new forms of media.”
Eugene’s early films were inspired by exploring wild places. “I wanted to capture those experiences on film, imagining their journeys through rivers, mountains, and other challenging spots,” Eugene says.
He filmed his surroundings, creating rhythmic video essays accompanied by music and experimental edits. “To reach a wider audience, I started collaborating with fashion brands because I was drawn to their visual storytelling, costumes, and the opportunity to experiment,” he says. “Working with them allowed me to explore my style, camera techniques, and develop my own creative medium.”
Eugene’s boundary-breaking approach
Eugene spent the early days of his career experimenting because he knew he needed to stand out if he wanted to achieve his dreams. That’s why his breakthrough project was such a success; it was a truly unique vision.
‘Archive Prints’ Be With Ari was filmed in 2021 and released in August 2022. The film was inspired by experimental directors and unconventional image-making techniques, and Eugene used night vision, handycams, and infrared lighting to create a fashion project using reflective, color-changing textiles.
Eugene and his team filmed in restricted Moscow locations like libraries and the metro, using inventive methods to avoid permissions while highlighting architecture and movement. He then spent a year creatively processing the footage, printing and rescanning frames to produce a new, textured visual medium. “We split it frame-by-frame, made the composition in DaVinci Resolve, then split it frame-by-frame again,” he says. “We scanned it back, we placed it on the timeline, and we got this kind of texture that is really different from anything else.”
This groundbreaking project received immediate acclaim from within the film world, including a feature on the Directors Library, which established Eugene’s reputation for a distinctive, experimental visual style.
“It’s not film, it’s not video, it’s not digital, it’s a completely new medium, almost impossible to work with because it requires painstaking effort,” Eugene says. “Printing and then cropping each image back to the aspect ratio we used. Nobody was doing this at every stage of a project.”
Working with Artlist
Eugene’s flow soon got interrupted when he was forced to leave his home country. “The war started, so I escaped Russia and started to make videos because that was the only thing I could do,” he says.
Thanks to the success of his former projects, he started creating music videos for artists, and connected with Artlist in early 2025. “The team from Artlist reached out to my friend in Georgia, who owns a production company,” Eugene says. “We were immediately on the same page, it just felt like a natural match.”
The first Artlist Original project Eugene worked on was Destroyed Youth. It’s a cinematic work that intertwines youth culture, rebellion, and the grit of urban decay. The footage showcases contemporary dance, casual hangouts, and playful moments amongst a group of young people, all set against the backdrop of abandoned buildings and crumbling cityscapes.
The footage reflects youthful defiance and the search for identity amid a world shaped by destruction and turmoil, no doubt a reflection of Eugene’s experiences in recent years.
“Circus” soon followed, a weird, wonderful, and ever-so-slightly unhinged stock footage collection exploring the surreal and theatrical world of circus performance. Shot with a Red Scarlet-W Dragon 5K S35, Eugene captures dramatic lighting, dynamic movement, and cinematic compositions. With circus footage clips featuring a clown with a hula hoop, acrobats performing high-flying stunts, a juggler, a girl balancing a ball, and a witch with a wand.
His latest creation for Artlist is Ballerina, which embraces his love for cinematic artistic direction. This collection captures the grace, emotion, and intensity of ballet performance and features dancers in rehearsal and performance. Eugene emphasises their fluid movement, expressive gestures, and striking lighting, and showcases solo dancers, ensembles, and dramatic close-ups.
Along with Eugene’s Car Crash stock footage, Destroyed Youth, and Circus, Ballerina stock footage exemplifies Eugene’s distinctive visual storytelling and commitment to capturing human expression through movement.
Eugene says that Artlist gave him full freedom to express himself, something he feels deeply grateful for. “It’s an amazing opportunity because [Artlist] provides the resources I need to explore ideas that I’m passionate about,” he says. “It’s not about selling products or producing commercial imagery, it’s about creating something truly unique, not just for the sake of exposure or profit.”
Eugene’s advice for filmmakers
Eugene still feels as though he is at the beginning of his career, however, he has some practical advice for fledgling filmmakers.
“Check out the magazine American Cinematographer,: he says. “It shares in-depth insights into filmmaking — gear, techniques, and the creative decisions behind the films. It’s like a behind-the-scenes guide, explained by the people who actually create the images. You can learn how shots are composed, lighting choices are made, set designs are planned, and even what tools or approaches were intentionally avoided. Each issue dives into specific films, so if you see a movie that inspires you, you can look up the Director of Photography and read the corresponding feature.”
And beyond that, he believes that surrounding yourself with the right people can set you apart professionally.
“My advice is to focus on finding a good team,” Eugene says. “If you have people around you who you can laugh with and stay relaxed even when things go wrong, you’re in good hands, and anything becomes possible. Collaborate with people you’re close with and communicate well with, even if they aren’t formally trained. Support them, build trust, and create together.”
Hopes for the future
Eugene has big plans to create more stock footage for Artlist, some of which is based on his own lived experiences.
“I’ve got a few projects lined up, and at least one or two will focus on lovers,” he says. “I’ve experienced a heartbreaking story, and after discussing it with the team at Artlist, we agreed it’s a compelling topic to explore. The projects will be about people in love, but not the typical happy lovers. Their feelings aren’t always bright; sometimes they’re bittersweet, and sometimes melancholy.”
Eugene’s first love will always be cinema, and he plans to move into feature filmmaking in the future. “With my type of life, it can be hard to have hopes,” he says. “So I just want to do what I do in the best way that I can.”
Eugene Nikitin is a video director and photographer with experience in working on non-standard projects in the media sphere. Eugene likes to mix industry-familiar visual solutions and new approaches to image creation, and enjoys making the communication between the author and viewer vivid and clear. Check out Eugene Nikitin’s collection of Artlist Original Footage today.
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