Andrey Petrovich Zvyagintsev (Russian: Андре́й Петро́вич Звя́гинцев) (born February 6, 1964) is a Russian film director and actor. He is mostly known for his 2003 film The Return, which won him a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
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Zvyagintsev was born in Novosibirsk, Siberia. At the age of 20 in 1984 he graduated from the drama school in Novosibirsk as an actor. Since 1986 he has lived in Moscow where he continued his studies at the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts until 1990. From 1992 to 2000 he worked as an actor for film and theater. In 2000 he began to work for the TV station REN TV and directed three episodes of the television series The Black Room.
In 2003, he directed his first feature film The Return, which received several awards, including a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. His second feature film The Banishment premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for a Palme d'Or.[1] In 2008, he directed a short segment for the film New York, I Love You. The segment was eventually cut from the film's theatrical release but will appear on the DVD.[2] His latest film, Elena, premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, in the Un Certain Regard section,[3] where it won the Jury Prize.[4]