Ilya Aleksandrovich Averbakh (; July 28, 1934, in

Leningrad Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

– January 11, 1986, 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 ...

) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

.Молодые годы петербургского режиссёра

Iskusstvo Kino ''Iskusstvo Kino'' (Russian language, Russian: Искусство кино, ''Film Art'') was a film magazine published in Moscow, Russia. It was one of the earliest magazines in Europe which specialize on film theory and review alongside the Bri ...

(in Russian) His 1972 film, ''

Monologue In theatre, a monologue (also known as monolog in North American English) (in , from μόνος ''mónos'', "alone, solitary" and λόγος ''lógos'', "speech") is a speech presented by a single character, most often to express their thoughts ...

'', was entered into the

1973 Cannes Film Festival The 26th Cannes Film Festival took place from 10 to 25 May 1973. Swedish actress Ingrid Bergman served as jury president for the main competition. The ''Grand Prix du Festival International du Film'', then the fetival's main prize, was jointly ...

. Averbakh was awarded the title Merited Artist of the RSFSR in 1976. His wife, screenwriter Natalia Riazantseva, wrote the scripts for several of his films. In 2003, Andrei Kravchuk made a documentary about the director.

Life and career

Averbakh graduated from Leningrad Medical Institute in 1958 and practiced as a doctor before enrolling in Goskino’s Advanced Screenwriting Courses, where he studied with Evgeni Gabrilovich until 1964. He joined the Supreme Courses for Screenwriters and Directors (affiliated with Lenfilm Studio), which he completed in 1967; one of his teachers was

Grigori Kozintsev Grigori Mikhailovich Kozintsev (11 May 1973, born Grigori Moiseyevich Kozintsov) was a Soviet theatre and film director, screenwriter and pedagogue. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1964. In 1965 he was a member of the jury at the ...

. His solo feature directorial debut, '' Degree of Risk'' (1968), based on the book by cardiologist

Nikolai Amosov Nikolai Mikhailovich Amosov, Doctor of Science, Professor (December 6, 1913 – December 12, 2002), also known as Mykola Mykhailovych Amosov () was a Soviet and Ukrainian doctor of Russian origin, heart surgeon, inventor, best-selling author, an ...

, is about an intense interaction between an old surgeon and a young patient whose life is saved against all odds. ''

'' (1972) is about a reclusive scientist who has to confront changing realities when living with his daughter and granddaughter. ''Other People’s Letters'' (1975) depicts the difficult relations between an idealistic provincial teacher and her cynical students. Averbakh’s last film, '' The Voice'' (1982), was about a young actress who suffers from a terminal illness and desperately tries to define the meaning of her creative efforts.

Filmography

*'' Private Life of Kuzyayev Valentin'' (1967) *'' Degree of Risk'' (1968) *'' Drama from Ancient Life'' (1971) *''

'' (1972) *'' Other People's Letters'' (1976) *'' A Declaration of Love'' (1977) *'' The Voice'' (1982)

References

External links

* Soviet film directors High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors alumni Russian Jews 1934 births 1986 deaths Soviet screenwriters Soviet male screenwriters {{USSR-film-director-stub