2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25
Alexander Sokurov is such a cultural figure, whose name is always on everyone's lips. He is known not only in his native Russia, but also abroad, where he shoots many of his films. Almost no international film festival is complete without his presence as a participant or jury member. His path was long and thorny, and eventually led to well-deserved success.
Biography
Alexander Nikolaevich was born in 1951 in the village of Podorvikha, but he did not spend much time in the Irkutsk region. Already in childhood, he moved with his parents to Poland, where he went to elementary school. He graduated from it in Turkmenistan, studying in other cities and countries along the way. Then he enters Gorky University, where he studies history. In parallel with his student life, the future director works on television and airs his first programs. In 1974, two significant events take place in his life: he defends his diploma, and the documentary film “Most Earthly Cares” is released on television, with which the filmography beganSokurov. The following year, he enters the directing department of VGIK, where he makes great strides. However, due to a conflict with the administration, Alexander Sokurov, whose films were perceived as anti-Soviet, takes his exams externally and ends his studies there.
Early creativity
The first feature film called "The Lonely Voice of a Man", which was supposed to be a diploma, was not allowed to defend, but later he found a response in the hearts of critics and received several festival awards. During this period, Alexander Sokurov actively communicates with Andrei Tarkovsky, who helps him get a job at Lenfilm. This period was marked for him by a great upsurge of creative activity, and all subsequent years the director shoots many feature and documentary films, which received many awards at various film festivals. Even before the advent of the new century, Sokurov's filmography had grown to gigantic proportions, and he himself was recognized as a master of his craft and even included in the list of the best directors in the world.
Documentaries
The documentary genre has always been of the greatest interest to the director. This is exactly what he started with, and the number of such paintings has always exceeded the game ones. Historical education has left its mark on the author's works. He masterfully knows how to highlight the facts with the help of such an artistic composition, which is unique, developed by him personally. More than 30 documentaries were presented to the world by Alexander Sokurov. Films about St. Petersburg occupy a special place among them. He shot a whole documentary cycle called "Petersburg Elegy", as well as "Leningrad Retrospective" and 3 pictures from the "Petersburg Diary" series, each of which is devoted to a separate topic. The director's work is closely connected with military and political motives, and his views were often criticized in the Soviet era, so many of his works were born thanks to the attraction of foreign capital.
Feature films
Sokurov's filmography is not limited to just one genre. During his long career, he did not shoot only comedies that he did not like at all. Among the most successful films are such as "Father and Son", "Russian Ark", "Alexandra", "Mother and Son", which were highly appreciated by critics and received various awards. The famous tetralogy, which includes "Moloch", "Taurus", "Sun" and "Faust", deserves special mention. All these films are united by common themes and motifs, which together add up to a complex theme of madness and its stages. As Sokurov himself says, the existence of each of them does not make sense without the others. He filmed them for a long 12 years, while constantly working on other projects.
La Francophonie
It has been 4 years since Sokurov's filmography was replenished with his joint work with Yankovsky called "We Need Happiness", and the last documentary was shown at the Venice Film FestivalDirector of Francophonie. The Louvre under German occupation”, which caused a flurry of emotions and admiration. In Russia, the premiere took place as part of the Message to Man international film festival. It was planned that he would not get to the rental, but not so long ago there was information that the film would still be shown to domestic viewers. Its plot revolves around the world-famous museum during wartime. It was filmed with the participation of France, Holland and Germany, and the actors in it, respectively, are European. When it will appear on wide screens, even Alexander Sokurov himself cannot yet say. A photo with frames from the film is the only thing that admirers of the director's work have today.
Other activities
Besides the director's chair, there are other areas where, over the years of creative wanderings, Alexander Sokurov succeeded, whose biography and films deserve far from a short, but a larger and more detailed description. His track record includes 4 theatrical productions, including "Boris Godunov" and "Northern Gardens". He also hosted his own film program, Sokurov's Island, for 10 years. In Nalchik, Sokurov's workshop was opened in one of the creative universities, and on the basis of Lenfilm, the Bereg documentary and feature film studio operates under his supervision. The number of awards he received is incalculable due to their huge number. At the moment, the director lives in St. Petersburg, where he also performs in a group of activists to protect the old part of the city. And hiscontribution to world cinema cannot be called anything other than epochal.
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