I’m Mihalis Ovchinnikov, a director, cinematographer, editor and photographer based in Dubai.
I’ve been working with cameras for most of my professional life. Before moving to the UAE, I spent several years working in Russian television and documentary production. From 2016 to 2022, I worked on projects for Channel One Russia, filming stories about nuclear icebreakers, submarines, the Kola Nuclear Power Plant, the Barneo Arctic ice runway, space exploration and the legacy of Sergey Korolev.
I also worked on productions for Discovery Channel Russia, including How It’s Made and Expedition to the Edge of the Earth. Documentary filmmaking gave me the chance to work in places that most people never get to see — industrial facilities, ships, remote northern regions and expeditions in the Arctic.
I moved to Dubai in 2022 and started building a new chapter of my career in the UAE.
Today I work across documentary, commercial and online video production. I shoot corporate films, advertising, interviews, podcasts, live events, concerts, real estate, YouTube shows and social media content. I often work as both cinematographer and editor, which means I can follow a project all the way from the first shot to the finished film.
My Dubai work has included productions for companies and projects such as SAMIT EVENT GROUP, Studio502, TODES Dubai, Blockchain Life, Almaya, real estate companies, schools, events and independent YouTube creators.
One of the formats I particularly enjoy is multi-camera production. I regularly shoot interviews and podcasts with three, four or five cameras. I come from television, so I still like doing things properly even when the final destination is YouTube.
Photography
Photography has always existed alongside my film work.
I shoot people, events, cars, travel, architecture and commercial photography. Sometimes photography is part of a larger video project; sometimes it is a completely separate job.
I also want this website to become a home for my personal photography — not only client work. I travel a lot and constantly take photographs, and I plan to make selected images available as prints.
Travel
Travel is a major part of my life and probably always will be.
Some trips happen because of work, some because I want to see what is on the other side of the map, and often the distinction disappears completely.
I’ve filmed in the Arctic, travelled across the UAE and Oman, driven from Dubai towards Salalah and along the Omani coast, worked and travelled in Georgia, Europe and Russia, and I’m always looking for the next road, city, border or story.
I like travelling by car because it gives me the freedom to stop whenever something looks interesting. A camera usually comes with me.
This section of the site will eventually contain travel stories, photographs, routes and observations rather than conventional travel guides.
Sailing
I’m also a sailor.
I hold an IYT skipper qualification and sail in Dubai. Sailing is one of those things that combines everything I like: travel, weather, technology, teamwork and a certain amount of unpredictability.
I’ve sailed and raced in Dubai, including on the trimaran Aurora Thrice, and boats will definitely have their own place on this site.
Running
I run marathons.
I’ve completed marathons in Istanbul and Moscow, including two Moscow Marathons, and Dubai is naturally on the list as well.
I’m not particularly interested in turning running into a fitness blog. I just like the strange combination of suffering, travelling and discovering a city on foot.
Teaching and filmmaking with kids
For a while I also taught filmmaking.
I gave lectures at Nord Film School in Murmansk, and in Dubai I have worked extensively with children’s film projects, including more than twenty short films made with young actors at Wings of Oscar.
Working with children is completely different from commercial production — less predictable, often more chaotic, and frequently much more inventive.
Languages
My native language is Russian, and I work professionally in English.
I also study Greek and Emirati Arabic, and have spent time learning German, Hebrew and other languages.
I like languages for the same reason I like travelling: they change the way a place looks once you understand even a little of what people around you are saying.
That is also why this website has several language versions.
Personal projects
Not everything I make has to be for a client.
I’m interested in documentaries, short fiction films, experiments with new production techniques, YouTube projects and stories that simply seem worth filming.
I am particularly interested in Dubai as a place for stories. It is usually shown through skyscrapers, luxury cars and advertising images, while the real city is much stranger, funnier and more diverse.
I want to make more films about that Dubai.
How I work
I like small crews, practical solutions and equipment that actually helps tell the story.
Depending on the project I may work alone or build a crew. I regularly shoot with Blackmagic Cinema Cameras, Canon cameras, drones, gimbals and multi-camera live-production equipment.
But equipment is never really the point.
The point is to come back with something worth watching.
This website
This site is deliberately broader than a professional portfolio.
Cinematography / Videography is where my commercial and film work lives.
Photography is for commissioned photography, personal photographs and, eventually, prints.
Personal is everything else: travel, sailing, stories, experiments, notes and things I find interesting enough to keep.
I don’t want this to be a static portfolio that gets redesigned every three years.
I want it to become an archive of what I do, where I go and what I see.
Mihalis Ovchinnikov
Dubai, UAE