Evgeny Afineevsky

Career Early Israeli and American works As a teenager, Afineevsky directed a documentary that won a festival prize at an event in Kazan, leading to his participation in the Black Sea International Film Festival hosted by the USSR Pioneer Camp Orlyonok in Krasnodar region, Russia.

In Israel, from 1994 to 2000, Afineevsky coordinated and produced more than 30 musicals including “Bat” (Die Fledermaus), Gypsy Baron, Viennese Blood, Night in Venice, Silva Princess of Csárdás, and Mozart Konzerte with the Prague National Opera Orchestra. From 1997 to 1999 he produced and co-directed two stage plays, The Mousetrap and Spider Web, by Agatha Christie. received the People's Choice Award for the Best Documentary from the Toronto International Film Festival, the 2016 Television Academy Honors Award and was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary category and the Primetime Emmy Awards in the Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking category. The film covered the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine. for the documentary Cries from Syria, which later became an Official Selection at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. HBO acquired US TV rights to Cries from Syria and broadcast it on March 13, 2017. It was also shown on HBO NOW, HBO GO, HBO On Demand and affiliate portals.

In August 2017 Afineevsky was awarded with the Friend of the Free Press Trophy by the Los Angeles Press Club for his work on Cries from Syria. He was named the Best Director at the annual Critics' Choice Documentary Awards in New York on November 2, 2017. On November 21, 2017 Producers Guild of America named Cries from Syria among the nominees for the Outstanding Producer of Documentary Motion Pictures Award. He and his film earned IPA Satellite Awards nominations for Best Documentary and Best Song in a Documentary for PRAYERS FOR THIS WORLD, performed by Cher. The Awards Circuit Community Awards nominated his movie as Best Documentary Feature for 2017. He won International Documentary Association’s Courage Under Fire Award, earned a PGA Award nomination, won a Humanitas Prize and Cinema for Peace Awards as Most Valuable Documentary of the Year, won 32nd Fort Lauderdale Film Festival, Documentaries Without Borders Film Festival and 51st Houston WorldFest Film Festival, as well as the Overseas Press Club’s Peter Jennings Award. During 2018, Afineevsky and his movie Cries from Syria earned four Emmy nominations.

In 2022, Afineevsky released a documentary Freedom on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom.

Francesco Afineevsky’s documentary Francesco, released in 2020, features Pope Francis. A segment of the film featuring Pope Francis discussing same-sex civil unions received significant media coverage and commentary from Catholic and secular sources. In the documentary, Bergoglio declared, with multiple cuts nonetheless.

In 2018, he received the Cinema for Peace Award for most valuable documentary of the Year for his movie Cries from Syria.

In 2015, Afineevsky received the Cross of Ivan Mazepa from the President of Ukraine for his documentary work on Winter on Fire.

Filmography Death Game (2001) Crime and Punishment (2002) Oy Vey! My Son Is Gay!! (2009) Open Heart (2012) Divorce: A Journey Through the Kids' Eyes (2014) Winter on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom (2016) Cries from Syria (2017) Francesco (2020) Freedom on Fire: Ukraine's Fight for Freedom (2022) Children in the Fire (2025)