Aleksei Oktyabrinovich Balabanov (; 25 February 1959 – 18 May 2013) was a Russian film director, screenwriter, and producer, who shot mostly arthouse pictures, but gained mainstream popularity with the crime drama Brat (Brother) and its more action-oriented sequel, Brat-2 (Brother 2), both of which starred Sergei Bodrov, Jr. as a novice hit man. Brother was successful both at the box office and in video copies, achieving wide popularity in Russia. Later, however, Balabanov became better known for his shocking and controversial films Cargo 200 (2007) and Morphine (2008).