This month Lamakaan brings films of one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the world of cinema.
About Andrei Tarkovsky: Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (Russian: Андрей Арсеньевич Тарковский, IPA: [ɐnˈdrʲej ɐrˈsʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ tɐrˈkofskʲɪj]; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Russian filmmaker. Widely considered one of cinema's greatest and most influential directors, his films explore spiritual and metaphysical themes. They are noted for their slow pacing, long takes, dreamlike visual imagery, and preoccupation with nature and memory.
Tarkovsky studied film at Moscow's VGIK under filmmaker Mikhail Romm and subsequently directed his first five features in the Soviet Union: Ivan's Childhood (1962), Andrei Rublev (1966), Solaris (1972), Mirror (1975), and Stalker (1979). A number of his films from this period are ranked among the best films ever made. After years of creative conflict with state film authorities, Tarkovsky left the country in 1979 and made his final two films abroad; Nostalghia (1983) and The Sacrifice (1986) were produced in Italy and Sweden, respectively. In 1986, he also published a book about cinema and art entitled Sculpting in Time. He died later that year of cancer, possibly caused by the toxic locations used in the filming of Stalker.
Tarkovsky was the recipient of several awards at the Cannes Film Festival throughout his career (including the FIPRESCI prize, the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury, and the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury and winner of the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival for his debut film Ivan's Childhood. In 1990, he was posthumously awarded the Soviet Union's prestigious Lenin Prize. Three of his films—Andrei Rublev, Mirror, and Stalker—were featured in Sight & Sound's 2012 poll of the 100 greatest films of all time.
Film Title: Ivan's Childhood | 1964 | 94 minutes | Russian language subtitled in English |
About the film: Ivan's Childhood (Russian: Ива́ново де́тство, romanized: Ivanovo detstvo), sometimes released as My Name Is Ivan in the US, is a 1962 Soviet war drama film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Co-written by Mikhail Papava, Andrei Konchalovsky, and an uncredited Tarkovsky, it is based on Vladimir Bogomolov's 1957 short story "Ivan". The film features child actor Nikolai Burlyayev, Valentin Zubkov, Evgeny Zharikov, Stepan Krylov, Nikolai Grinko, and Tarkovsky's wife Irma Raush.
Ivan's Childhood tells the story of orphaned boy Ivan, whose parents were killed by the invading German forces, and his experiences during World War II. Ivan's Childhood was one of several Soviet films of its period, such as The Cranes Are Flying and Ballad of a Soldier, that looked at the human cost of war and did not glorify the war experience as did films produced before the Khrushchev Thaw. In a 1962 interview, Tarkovsky stated that in making the film, he wanted to "convey all [his] hatred of war" and that he chose childhood "because it is what contrasts most with war."
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