Since 1991 Burlyayev has been the founder and Director of the annual Zolotoi Vityaz (Golden Knight) Moscow Film Festival of Slavic and Orthodox Peoples, and since 1996 he has been the founder and chairman of the International Association of Cinematographers of Slavic and Orthodox Peoples.
In March 2014 he signed a letter in support of the position of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin on Russia's military intervention in Ukraine. Burlyaev emphasizes that he is Orthodox, repeatedly sharply expressed his negative attitude towards people with non-traditional sexual orientation, calls himself a homophobe.
Burlyayev is a graduate of the Film Directors’ Faculty of VGIK, where he studied under Mikhail Romm and Lev Kulidzhanov. His later films include Wartime Romance (1983) and Lermontov (1986), where he played the lead.
