Stanislav Govorukhin

Stanislav Govorukhin
Native name Станислав Серге́евич Говорухин
Born Stanislav Sergeyevich Govorukhin
March 29, 1936
Berezniki, Russia
Occupation Film director, screenwriter

Stanislav Sergeyevich Govorukhin PAR (Russian: Станислав Серге́евич Говорухин) (born March 29, 1936 in Berezniki, Perm Krai,[1] Russian SFSR) has been one of the most popular Soviet and Russian film directors since the 1960s. His films, often featuring detective or adventure plots, are commonly dominated by strong male characters who seek to revenge criminal acts but have to eschew commonly accepted social norms in order to succeed.

Biography

Govorukhin was born in Berezniki, Sverdlovsk Oblast (now Perm Krai) and started his career as a geologist in 1958. He then joined a television studio in Kazan and enrolled at the VGIK. During the Soviet period, Govorukhin became noted for his successful TV adaptations of adolescent classics, including Robinson Crusoe (1973), Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1981),[1][2] In Search of the Castaways (1983), and Desyat Negrityat[1] (an adaptation of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None) in 1987. He also directed two movies starring Vladimir Vysotsky - Vertical (1967)[1] and The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed (1979), one of the cult films of the late Soviet era.[1]

After the Perestroika, Govorukhin abandoned cinema for politics. He became one of the leaders of the Democratic Party of Russia. In 1990, he directed a much-publicised documentary highly critical of the Soviet society, entitled We Can't Live Like This. Although his feature films were previously ignored by the critical establishment, this film won him the Nika Award for Best Director.[1] It was at that time that Govorukhin released an extensive interview with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.

Govorukhin has been a member of the State Duma since its inauguration in 1993, running the Duma culture committee for some time. Following the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, he had abandoned his previous democratic anti-communist convictions and sided with the national-communist opposition. In 1996, he supported Gennady Zyuganov against Boris Yeltsin during the second round of the presidential election campaign. In 2000, he took part in Russian presidential elections, but failed to be elected. At a Duma by-election in 2005, Govorukhin's opponent, the journalist and satirist Victor Shenderovich, accused him of using illegal funds to guarantee his victory.

More recently, Govorukhin returned to the cinema, co-starring with Alisa Friendlich in the detective TV series Female Logic and releasing another revenge movie, The Rifleman of the Voroshilov Regiment (with Mikhail Ulyanov in the lead role).

In 2009 Govorukhin started to shoot a movie by Ksenya Stepanycheva screenplay; the movie’s name is “Hearts of Four”.

In June 2013 Govorukhin joined the central staff of the All-Russia People's Front, lead by Russian President Putin.[3]

In March 2014 he signed a letter in support of the position of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin on Russia's military intervention in Ukraine.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "Stanislav Govorukhin Celebrates his 70th Jubilee". Russia InfoCenter. 30 March 2006. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
  2. ↑ "Soviet Union: Old Man Dnieper". Time. 26 April 1982. Retrieved 1 April 2011.
  3. ↑ Putin becomes Popular Front for Russia leader, Interfax-Ukraine (13 June 2013)

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