AIK KARAPETIAN is a film, opera, and theatre director. He graduated from the Latvian Academy of Culture and earned a master’s degree in film directing from ESEC in Paris.

His debut feature People Out There premiered at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 2012. His films The Man in the Orange Jacket and Firstborn were screened at festivals including Fantasia Montreal, BFI London Film Festival, Fantastic Fest, Sitges, and the Paris International Film Festival, reflecting his continued work with genre cinema and psychological tension.

His feature film Squeal (2021) was released theatrically and distributed on U.S. platforms including Apple TV, Amazon, Google Play, and HBO. His latest feature The Brazen received multiple Latvian National Film Awards including as best director.

Alongside filmmaking, Karapetian works extensively in opera and theatre. At the Latvian National Opera, his productions of Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and Gounod’s Faust received the Latvian Music Award for Production of the Year, while Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann was nominated in the same category. He has also staged Bizet’s Carmen at the Opéra National de Montpellier and Faust at the Trondheim Opera.

In theatre, Karapetian has collaborated with the New Riga Theatre, where Felikss, Anatolijs and Ilona achieved notable audience success. In 2025, his productions The Last Supper at the New Riga Theatre and The Karl Marx: Confessions at the Armenian National Academic Theatre premiered.