Nikolai Ekk
Nikolai Vladimirovich Ekk was a Russian film director and screenwriter in the Soviet Union. His surname was Ivakin and "Ekk" was a pseudonym.
Image:Putevka v zhisn poster.jpg|thumb|150px|Poster of first Soviet sound film Road to Life.
Born in Riga, he studied acting and directing in the theater of Vsevolod Meyerhold. He directed six feature films between 1929 and 1967. Among them was the first Soviet sound film Road to Life and the first Soviet color motion picture film The Nightingale.