Andrey Petrovich Zvyagintsev (, ; born 6 February 1964) is a Russian filmmaker. His film ''
The Return'' (2003) won him a
Golden Lion at the
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...
. Following ''The Return'', Zvyagintsev directed ''
The Banishment'' (2007) and ''
Elena'' (2011). His film ''
Leviathan'' (2014) was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best International Feature Film in 2014 and won the Best Film award at the
Asia Pacific Screen Awards. His most recent film ''
Loveless'' won the
Jury Prize at the
2017 Cannes Film Festival, and was among the nominees for Best International Feature Film at the
90th Academy Awards. He also won the Achievement in Directing award for this film at the
2017 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Life and career
Zvyagintsev was born in
Novosibirsk
Novosibirsk is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and the Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the 2021 Russian census, 2021 census, it had a population of 1,633,595, making it the most populous city in Siber ...
,
Siberia
Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
. At the age of 20 in 1984, he graduated from the
theater school in Novosibirsk as an actor. Since 1986, he has lived in
Moscow
Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...
where he continued his studies at the
Russian Institute 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''.
He directed his first feature film ''
The Return'' (2003), which received several awards, including a
Golden Lion at the
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival (, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival held in Venice, Italy. It is the world's oldest film festival and one of the ...
. His second feature film ''
The Banishment'' (2007) premiered at
its year's Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for a
Palme d'Or.
''
Elena'' (2011), again
premiered at Cannes, in the
Un Certain Regard section, receiving the festival's Jury Prize. The same year it won the Grand Prix at
Film Fest Gent.
''
Leviathan'' (2014) was selected to compete for the
Palme d'Or in the main competition section
for its year at Cannes,
where Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin won the award for
Best Screenplay for the film.
''Leviathan'' won the
Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for the
Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. It also won the award for Best Film at the
8th Asia Pacific Screen Awards. In 2015, Zvyagintsev was a jury president of the
18th Shanghai International Film Festival.
His most recent film, ''
Loveless'' (2017), won the
Jury Prize at
Cannes in May 2017. It later won the Best Film at the
2017 London Film Festival, making him the second director to have won the award twice, having previously been honored for ''Leviathan''. In November 2017, the film won three awards at
the Golden Unicorn Awards in London: Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actress. ''Loveless'' was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Zvyagintsev won the Achievement in Directing award at the 11th
Asia Pacific Screen Awards for ''Loveless''. In
March 2018, ''Loveless'' won the
César Award Cesar or César may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* César (film), ''César'' (film), a 1936 French romantic drama
* César (film), ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt
Places
* Cesar, Portugal
* Cesar Department, Colombia
* Cesar R ...
for
Best Foreign Film, making Zvyagintsev the first Russian director to have won this award. In 2018, Zvyagintsev was a jury member of the
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Film Festival (; ), until 2003 called the International Film Festival ('), is the most prestigious film festival in the world.
Held in Cannes, France, it previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from all around ...
.
In 2023 it was announced that he is working on his next project titled ''Jupiter'', about an oligarch, and is planning on shooting in spring 2024 in Europe.
Personal life
Andrei Zvyantsev's first wife was the actress Irina Grinyova; the two divorced after six years of marriage. His second wife is the film editor Anna Matveeva. They have a son, Pyotr (born 2009).
Illness
In June 2021, Zvyagintsev received the
Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine, but he developed a high fever and was taken to the hospital, where he was admitted to intensive care. During his hospital stay, he developed
sepsis
Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs.
This initial stage of sepsis is followed by suppression of the immune system. Common signs and s ...
from an antibiotic-resistant infection contracted there.
He was put into an artificial coma in a German hospital, but afterward developed
polyneuropathy that caused him to lose the ability to walk. For an extended period as well, he could neither sit up nor speak. In the hospital, his throat ligaments had been injured, and as late as May 2022, he was still undergoing treatment at a hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany.
However, by the end of 2023, now residing in France, Zvyagintsev was preparing to shoot a film entitled Jupiter in the coming year.
Filmography
* ''The Black Room'' (TV series, 2000)
* ''
The Return'' (2003)
* ''
The Banishment'' (2007)
* ''
New York, I Love You'' ("Apocrypha" segment, 2009) – segment cut from theatrical release
* ''
Experiment 5IVE'' ("Mystery" segment, 2011)
* ''
Elena'' (2011)
* ''
Leviathan'' (2014)
* ''
Loveless'' (2017)
In popular culture
In Russian dark comedy series ''
The Last Minister''
Alexander Gorchilin plays an alternate reality version of Zvyagintsev
who's kidnapped by a secret government agency and forced to make a sequel to ''Leviathan'' as part of a
psyop to bolster Russia's reputation as world's bleakest and scariest country.
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zvyagintsev, Andrey
1964 births
Living people
People from Novosibirsk
Academicians of the National Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Russia
Russian Academy of Theatre Arts alumni
Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay winners
César Award winners
Directors of Golden Lion winners
European Film Awards winners (people)
Recipients of the Nika Award
Russian male screenwriters
Russian film directors
Russian screenwriters
Asia Pacific Screen Award winners