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Top 10 Astonishing  Facts about Andrei Tarkovsky

Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, and film theorist.

He was widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the soviet and world cinema.

His films explored spiritual and mystical themes. The films were also noted for their slow pacing and long takes in dreamlike visual imagery and preoccupation with nature and memory.

1. Andrei Tarkovsky’s Childhood

Andrei Tarkovski photo by Festival de Cine Africano Tarifa T谩nger – FCAT-

 Andrei Tarkovsky was born in the village of Zavrazhye in the Yuryevetsky district of the Ivanovo Industrial Oblast which in modern-day is known as the Kadyysky district of the Kostroma Oblast in Russia.

His father Arseny Aleksandrovich Tarkovsky was a poet and a translator and a native of Kropyvnytskyi, Ukraine and his mother Maria Ivanova was a graduate of the Maxim gorky literature institute who later worked as a corrector.

Tarkovsky spent his childhood in Yuryevets and he was described by his childhood friends as active and popular. In the year 1937, his father left the family subsequently when he volunteered for the army in the year 1941.

In 1943 his father returned home when he was awarded a red star after he was shot in one of his legs which he would eventually need to amputate due to gangrene.

Tarkovsky stayed with his mother moving with her and his sister Marina to Moscow where she worked as a proofreader at a printing press.

2. His Education

Andrei Tarkovsky photo by Nie znam-

Tarkovsky enrolled at the Moscow school. During the war, Tarkovsky and his mother and sister moved and evacuated to Yuryevets where they lived with his maternal grandmother and in the year 1943, the family returned to Moscow.

Tarkovsky continued with his studies at his old school. He studied piano at a music school and attended classes at an art school.

In his school years, he was a troublemaker and a poor student but he still managed to graduate.

From the year 1951 to 1952 he studied Arabic at the Oriental Institute in Moscow which was a branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union.

Although Tarkovsky already spoke some Arabic and he was a successful student in his first semester however he did not finish his studies he dropped out to work as a prospector for the Academy of science institute for nonferrous metals and gold.

He participated in a yearlong research expedition to the river Kureyka near Turukhansk in the Krasnoyarsk province and during this time Tarkovsky decided to study film.

3. Andrei Tarkovsky was a Film Student

Andrei Tarkovsky photo by Anatoly Terentiev-

He applied to the State Institute of cinematography and was admitted to the film directing program.

He directed his first student short film the Killer and he also directed there will be no leave today. However, both films were a collaboration between the students.

Tarkovsky met Andrei Konchalovsky in his third year at the institute and during the meeting up they found that they have much in common simply because they both liked the same film directors and shared ideas on cinema and films.

As a result, they wrote the script Antarctica in the year 1959 which was rejected by Lenfilm but they got to be successful with another script they wrote called the steamroller and the violin which they sold to Mosfilm.

The steamroller and the violin script became Tarkovsky鈥檚 graduation project which earned him his diploma in the year 1960 and won him first prize at the New York student film festival in the year 1961.

4. His Film Career in the Soviet Union

Andrei Tarkovsky photo by Ministery of Interior of Italy-

His first feature film was Ivan鈥檚 childhood which he had inherited from director Eduard Abalov who abort the project.

The film earned Tarkosky’s international claim where he won the golden lion award at the Venice film festival in the year 1962.

Tarkovsky began production of the film on the first day in the year 1979 the film was based on a script which was written by his friend and collaborator Andrei Konchalovsky.

The film was set in 18^th century Russia which was during the reign of Peter the Great. The project was approved by Goskino which was the central state directory body of soviet film production.

Tarkovsky submitted a script that was different from the original script in which he had omitted several scenes that were critical of the official atheism in the Soviet Union.

When shooting half the film, the project was stopped by Goskino after it became apparent the film differed from the script that was submitted to the censors.

Tarkovsky was infuriated by this interruption and destroyed most of the film.

5. Andrei Tarkovsky’s Career Outside the Soviet Union

Tarkovsky traveled to Italy during the summer of 1979 where he shot the documentary voyage in time with his friend Tonino Guerra.

He later returned to Italy in the year 1980 for an extended trip where he and Guerra completed the script for the film nostalgia.

In the year 1982, he returned to Italy to start shooting nostalgia but most films withdrew from the project so he sought and received financial backing from the RAI which is the national public broadcasting company of Italy.

He completed the film in 1983 and it was presented at the Cannes film festival where it won the international federation of film critics prize and the prize of the Ecumenical Jury.

In the year 1984, he prepared the film the sacrifice which was finally shot in Sweden in the year 1985.

The film was presented at the Cannes film festival and received the Grand Prix special du jury, the international federation of film critics prize, and the prize of the Ecumenical Jury.

6. His Awards

Andrei Tarkovsky was bestowed numerous awards throughout his lifetime which including;

the golden lion for the film Ivan鈥檚 childhood which he was given at the Venice film festival, the international federation of film critics prize which he won three times,

the Ecumenical jury-prize which he won three times, and the best director award. He also was nominated three times for the Palme d’Or.

British Academy of film and television arts award for the best foreign-language film for his film the sacrifice.

7. Films That were About Him

A number of films were devoted to him like the film voyage in time which documented the travels in Italy that Tarkovsky had during the preparation for the making of his film nostalgia,

and the film Moscow elegy which was a documentary/homage to Tarkovsky directed by Aleksandr Sokurov,

the film one day in the life of Andrei Arsenevich was a French documentary directed by Chris Marker, and the film Andrei Tarkovsky a cinema prayer was a documentary directed by Tarkovsky鈥檚 son.

8. Andrei Tarkovsky’s Directed Seven Feature Films

Andrei Tarkovsky directed seven feature films and his features are; Ivan鈥檚 childhood, Andrei Rublev, Solaris, mirror, stalker, nostalgia, and the sacrifice.

He directed the play hamlet for the stage in Moscow and also directed the opera Boris Godunov in London.

He as well directed a radio production of the short story turnabout by William Faulkner.

9. His Cinematic Style

Tarkovsky argued in an interview he had in the year 1962 that 鈥�all art, of course, is intellectual, but for me, all the arts and cinema even more so must above all be emotional and act upon the heart鈥�.

More so his films were characterized by mystical themes and extremely long takes with images often considered by critics to be exceptional beauty.

10. Andrei Tarkovsky鈥檚 Death

He died at the age of 54 in 麻豆APP on 29^th December 1986 out of lung cancer.

His funeral service was held at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and he was buried on 3^rd January 1987 in the Russian cemetery in Sainte-Genevi猫ve-des-Bois in France.