Director: Alexander Sokurov Script: Yuri Arabov Director of Photography: Alexander Sokurov Production Designer: Natalya Kochergina Composer: Andrei Sigle Sound: Sergei Moshkov Cast: Leonid Mozgovoy, Maria Kuznetsova, Natalya Nikulenko, Sergei Razhuk, Lev Yeliseyev, Nikolay Ustinov, Fyodor Lavrov
Production Company
Lenfilm Studio
Kamennoostrovsky pr.10,
Saint-Petersburg 197101, Russia
1922. Summer. In the governmental country residence near Moscow, an old mansion, Lenin, the man who tried to change the world, is slowly getting weaker and weaker. He knows that it is going towards the end. He is waiting for death.
Awards
Grand Prix and Award for the actors’ duo L. Mozgovoy and M. Kuznetsova, Festival of Russian Cinema “Window to Europe”, Vyborg, 2001; Russian State Prize 2001 to A. Sokurov and Y. Arabov; Gold Griffon Award, Festival of Festivals IFF, St. Petersburg, 2001; Award to A. Sokurov for Best Director and Press Award for the film, Vivat, Russian Cinema FF, St. Petersburg, 2001; Award to L. Mozgovoy for Best Male Lead, Listopad IFF of films from the CIS and the Baltic States, Minsk, 2001; Special Mention of the Jury to M. Kuznetsova, Sozvezdie (Constellation) IFF, Arkhangelsk, 2001; Special Prize for the film, Festival of Russian Film in Onfleur, France, 2001; Nika – 2001, the Award of the Russian Cinematographers’ Union – for Best Fiction Film, to A. Sokurov for Best Director, to L. Mozgovoy for Best Male Lead and to M. Kuznetsova for Best Female Lead, to Y. Arabov for Best Script, to A. Sokurov for Best Camera, to N. Kochergina for Best Production Design, 2002; National Award Golden Ram - 2001 for Best Film, to A. Sokurov for Best Director and Best Camera, to M. Kuznetsova for Best Actress and L. Mozgovoy for Best Actor, to Y. Arabov for Best Script, to N. Kochergina for Best Production Design, 2002; Bronze Horseman, the Professional Awards of the Lenfilm Studio for 2000 - for Best Film, to L. Mozgovoy for Best Actor, to Y. Arabov for Best Script, and to N. Kochergina for Best Production Design, 2001.
Sokurov, Alexander
Alexander Sokurov (born 1951, Podorvikha, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia)
After graduating from high school in 1968 he entered Gorky University (Department of History). While a student he began working as a staff member for the Gorky television. In 1975-79 Sokurov studied in the Director's Department at the Moscow All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK). His first feature film The Lonely Voice of a Man was highly appreciated by director Andrei Tarkovsky and later received a number of awards. Sokurov was employed by the Lenfilm Studio in 1980. At the same time he started working at the Leningrad Studio for Documentary Films, where he has made his documentaries. Alexander Sokurov acts very often not only as a director, but also as a screenwriter and director of photography in his projects. He has received many Russian and international awards. The European Film Academy listed Sokurov among the Best 100 directors of the world cinema. In 2005 his film Sun won Grand Prix at the Golden Apricot IFF.
Filmography
The Lonely Voice of Man (1978-87), Maria (1978-88), Sonata for Hitler (1979-89), The Degraded (1980), Sonata for Viola. Dmitriy Shostakovitch (1981), And Nothing More (1982-87), Painful Indifference (1983-87), Evening Sacrifice (1984-87), Patience Labour (1985-87), Elegy (1986), Empire (1986), Moscow Elegy (1986-88), Days of Eclipse (1988), Save and Protect (1989), Soviet Elegy (1989), Petersburg Elegy (1990), To the Events in Transcaucasia. Newsreel No. 5, Special Issue (1990), A Simple Elegy (1990), The Second Circle (1990), Elegy from Russia (1992), A Retrospection of Leningrad (1957–1990) (2009), An Example of Intonation (1991), Stone (1992), Whispering Pages (1993), Soldier's Dream (1995). Spiritual Voices (1995), Mother and Son (1996), Oriental Elegy (1996), Hubert Robert. A Fortunate Life (1996), A Humble Life (1997), The St. Petersburg Diary. Inauguration of a Monument to Dostoevsky (1997), The St. Petersburg Diary. Kosintsev's Flat (1997), Confession (1998), The Dialogues with Solzhenitsyn (1998), dolce… (1999), Moloch (1999), Taurus (2000), Elegy of a Voyage (2001), Russian Ark (2002), Father and Son (2003), The Sun (2004), The St. Petersburg Diary Mozart. Requiem (2005), Elegy of Life (2006), Alexandra (2007), Reading Book of Blockade (2009), Intonation (2009), Faust (2011).
Alexander Sokurov (born 1951, Podorvikha, Irkutsk Oblast, Russia)
