Algimantas Maceina was born in 1958, Vartai village, Prienai district. In 1985 he graduated from the LSSR State Conservatoire (present Lithuanian Academy of Music), Theatre Department, and directed the play of Maeterlinck The Salt of Life in Kaunas the same year. In 1985–1988 he worked as an assistant director for feature films at the Lithuanian Film Studio. In 1988 he studied film directing at the Tbilisi Theatre Institute, Film Department; in 1991 he worked at the Jonas Mekas Film Anthology Museum.