Mihail Livada was born in Romania. He was an engineer who also studied music at the Academy of Bucharest. Livada moved to Sweden during World War II and worked as a photographer, as a teacher at the University College of Arts Crafts and Design and as an instructor at the Film Workshop. In 1950 Mihail Livada filmed ‘The white hands’ with Rut Hillarp. The same years he was one of founders of the Swedish Experimental Film Society, later called The Independent Filmgroup and from 1972 Filmform.