Mournful unconcern
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Dixon Place
The best faces of public cinema – these include Alexander Sokurov, who is on the list of the 100 best directors in the world. Talented and unconventional, he knows how to make films that evoke emotions and make you think. And it's worth talking about.
Alexander Sokurov - biography
Alexander Sokurov is a native Russian, born in 1951. His family constantly changed their place of residence (his father was a military man), so he received his education in Poland, Turkmenistan and Russia. While studying at the History Department of Gorky University, Sokurov began working on TV. At the age of 19, he tried himself as a director, starting the production of TV shows and several films. After receiving a diploma in history, Alexander Sokurov went for a second education at VGIK and graduated from it with an external degree, a year earlier, because the dean and teachers did not agree with his vision. But he was appreciated and supported by Andrei Tarkovsky, who helped Sokurov find a job at Lenfilm.
Censorship of the USSR became a big problem for Alexander Sokurov. Not a singl
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Aleksandr Sokurov
Alexander Sokurov (Russia, 1951) started out with documentaries because his feature films were mostly banned by the Soviet censors.
Odinokij Golos Cheloveka/ Lonely Voice of a Man (1978), lost and reassembled in 1987, was a tribute to Andrei Platonov's "River Potudan" and "Origin of the Master", filmed with nonprofessional actors. It began his collaboration with screenwriter Yuri Arabov.
Skorbnoye Beschuvstviye/ Mournful Unconcern (1983), again scripted by Arabov, released only in 1987, set during World War I, distorts Bernard Shaw's play "Heartbreak House" via acrobatic montage.
Painful Indifference (1987), inspired by Bernard Shaw's play "Heartbreak House", was again banned in the Soviet Union.
Dni Zatmenia/ Days of the Eclipse (1988), his most Tarkovsky-ian film, loosely based on Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's novel "Za Milliard let do Kontsa Sveta/ A Billion Years Before the End of the World/ Definitely Maybe" (1974), is set in a desolate village of the Turkmen desert. Photographed by Sergei Yu
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Alexander Sokurov's films are known for their meditative pacing, rich visual language, and exploration of existential themes. Often compared to his mentor, Andrei Tarkovsky, Sokurov has developed a rich tradition of spiritual and philosophical inquiry in cinema, creating a substantial body of work that delves into history, memory, love, war, and the human condition. His talent has been expressed in both fiction and documentary forms, earning him numerous prizes, including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
Often touching on the subject of power and its abuse during his career, Sokurov himself has been confronted with it on more than one occasion. His very first feature film, The Lonely Voice of Man(1978), based on Andrei Platonov's writings, was condemned to destruction by Soviet authorities. Miraculously saved, it was only released nine years later during Perestroika. His most recent work, Fairytale(2022), which explores the afterlives of the major dictators of the 20th century, also faced censorship in contemporary Russia, and Sokurov himsel
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