Andrei Konchalovsky (Stage Director)
• Peopleґs Artist of Russia • Recipient of the State Prize
of Russia • Recipient of the State Prize of Kazakhstan
Renowned cinema director, script writer and theatre figure. Studied at a
music school and subsequently at the Moscow Conservatoire (piano class). At the
age of twenty-two he entered the All-Russian State Institute of Cinema, workshop
of Mikhail Romm. For one of his diploma works he made the film The Boy and
the Dove (awarded the Bronze Lion prize at a festival of
children’s films in Venice, 1961). Konchalovsky’s degree work The First
Teacher after the story by Chingiz Aimatov took several prizes and awards,
including the special jury prize at the young cinematographers’ film festival in
Iero and the Volpi Cups for Natalia Arinbasarova who performed the lead
role in Venice in 1966 among others. Together with Andrei Tarkovsky, he
wrote the scripts for the films The Skating Rink and the Violin, Ivan’s
Childhood and Andrei Rublyov. Also wrote the scripts for
Lyuty, Tashkent – City of Bread, The Seventh Bullet, The Fan, We’re
Waiting for You, Boy and Tran Siberian Express. In 1972 he was
awarded the State Prize of the Kazakh SSR for the script of The End of the
Ataman. In 1980 he was made a People’s Artist of the Russian
Federation. The same year he began working in Hollywood (USA).
Over a career spanning thirty-five years, Andrei Konchalovsky has made
seventeen films, each of which has received various awards and prizes: The
Story of Asya Klyachina (Nika-88 prize and special prize of the Pesaro-88
International Film Festival among others), The Noble Nest, Uncle Vanya
(Silver Sink prize of the International Film Festival in San Sebastian in
1971, silver medal at the International Film Festival in Milan in 1974), A
Romance about Lovers (the top Crystal Globe prize at the
International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary in 1974), Sibiriade
(special prize of the International Film Festival in Cannes in 1979,
special prize of the International Festival in Houston in 1982) – USSR; The
Broken Cherry Tree, Mad about Mary, Run-Away Train (participant in the
International Film Festival in Cannes in 1986; three Oscar nominations),
Duet for a Soloist, Shameful People (prize for Barbara Hershey for
“best female role” in Cannes in 1987), Homer and Eddie (top prize at
the San Sebastian International Film Festival in 1989), Tango and Cash
– USA; Inner Circle – Italy–USA–Russia; Ryaba, My Chicken
(grand prize of the Cine-Shock film festival in Anapa in 1994,
participant in the International Film Festivals of Cannes (1994), Montreal
(1994) and Vancouver (1994) among others – Russia–France; and Odyssey
(TV, four episodes) – USA. Yevgeny Kindinov, Alexander Zbruev, Elena Koreneva,
Sylvester Stallone, Nastassja Kinski, Whoopi Goldberg, Geraldine Chaplin,
Isabella Rossellini, Eric Roberts, Kurt Russell, Bob Hoskins and Julie Andrews
are just some of the actors to appear in films made by Konchalovsky over the
years.
As a theatre director, he has staged The Seagull at the Odйon
(Paris) and the operas Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades
at La Scala (Milan) and the Opйra Bastille (Paris). He was invited to be the
production director of the musical pageant Our Ancient Capital, which
opened celebrations marking eight hundred and fifty years since the foundation
of Moscow. In 1997 he was awarded the order For Services to the
Fatherland. In 2003 he staged a celebratory show in St Petersburg on
the balustrade of the reconstructed Konstantinovsky Palace to mark the city’s
tercentenary. The same year he completed the montage of a screed version of
Goldman’s The Lion in Winter.
At the Mariinsky Theatre, he has staged productions of Sergei Prokofiev’s
War and Peace (2000) and Giuseppe Verdi’s Un ballo in maschera
(premiered with Mariinsky Theatre soloists, Chorus and Orchestra under Valery
Gergiev on 31 January 2001 at the Verdi Festival in Parma, Italy). In 2004
Andrei Konchalovsky staged The Seagull at the Mossoviet Theatre. In
2005 came Miss Julie at the Theatre on Malaya Bronnaya, while January 2006 saw
the premiere of a new production of King Lear at Warsaw’s Freedom
Theatre with Daniel Olbrykhsky in the lead role (marking the actor’s
anniversary). Pan Daniel had invited Andrei Konchalovsky to Poland especially to
stage this tragedy. Andrei Konchalovsky has written three books of memoirs
(Low Truths, Tales of Deceit and Low Truths. Seven Years Later). In
April 2006 on Kultura TV came the premiere of Andrei Konchalovsky’s own
series Culture is Destiny (twelve episodes). 2007 saw the premiere of
Andrei Konchalovsky’s film The Watcher.
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