Konstantin Sergeyevich Lopushansky (; born June 12, 1947) is 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 ...

and

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n film director, film theorist and author. He is best known for directing the apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic films '' Dead Man's Letters'' (1986), ''

A Visitor to a Museum ''A Visitor to a Museum'' () is a 1989 Soviet post-apocalyptic drama film directed and written by Konstantin Lopushansky. It was entered into the 16th Moscow International Film Festival The 16th Moscow International Film Festival was held fro ...

'' (1989), '' Russian Symphony'' (1994), and ''

The Ugly Swans ''The Ugly Swans'' () is a science fiction novel by Soviet writers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. In the USSR, it was published in 1987, in the Latvian magazine ''Daugava'', with the title "The Time of Rains" (). Initially, the novel was written ...

'' (2006). In 1997, Lopushansky was awarded the

Honored Artist of the Russian Federation Merited Artist of the Russian Federation (, ''Zasluzhenny artist Rossiyskoy Federatsii''), also known as Honored Artist of Russia, is an honorary title in the Russian Federation. The title is awarded to actors, directors, filmmakers, writers, d ...

honorary title. In 2007, he was awarded the

People's Artist of Russia People's Artist of the Russian Federation (, ''Narodnyy artist Rossiyskoy Federatsii''), also sometimes translated as National Artist of the Russian Federation, is an honorary and the highest title awarded to citizens of the Russian Federation ...

honorary title, the highest Russian civilian honor for performing arts.

Biography

Early life

Konstantin Lopushansky was born on June 12, 1947, in

Dnepropetrovsk Dnipro is Ukraine's fourth-largest city, with about one million inhabitants. It is located in the eastern part of Ukraine, southeast of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on the Dnieper River, Dnipro River, from which it takes its name. Dnipro is t ...

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, abbreviated as the Ukrainian SSR, UkrSSR, and also known as Soviet Ukraine or just Ukraine, was one of the Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Union from 1922 until 1991. ...

, and raised in

Kazan Kazan; , IPA: Help:IPA/Tatar, ɑzanis the largest city and capital city, capital of Tatarstan, Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka (river), Kazanka Rivers, covering an area of , with a population of over 1. ...

. His mother was Sofia Petrovna Lopushanskaya, who worked as a linguistic professor at

Kazan State University Kazan Federal University (; ) is a public research university located in Kazan, Russia. The university was founded in 1804 as Imperial Kazan University, which makes it the second oldest continuously existing tertiary education institution in Rus ...

and

Volgograd State University Volgograd State University (VolSU, ) is a public university and one of the leading institutions of higher education in Volgograd, Russia. History The first year enrollment (250 people) was made in 1980 and offered only 5 majors: Mathematics, ...

. His father was Sergei Timofeyevich Lopushansky, a front-line soldier who died in 1953 from wounds he sustained in war.

Education and early career

In 1970, Konstantin Lopushansky graduated from

Kazan Conservatory The N.G. Zhiganov Kazan State Conservatory (Russian: Казанская государственная консерватория имени Н.Г. Жиганова) is a higher musical education institution in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia. The conse ...

as a violinist, and in 1973 he completed a postgraduate course at

Leningrad Conservatory The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory () (formerly known as the Petrograd Conservatory and Leningrad Conservatory) is a school of music in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 2004, the conservatory had around 275 faculty members ...

with a Ph.D. thesis in art criticism. Afterwards, Lopushansky taught at the Kazan and Leningrad conservatories for several years. Lopushansky took higher courses for scriptwriters and film directors from the director's department at the workshop of

Emil Loteanu Emil Loteanu (6 November 1936 – 18 April 2003) was a Moldovan and Soviet film director born in what is now Republic of Moldova. He moved to Bucharest and Moscow in his early life. His best known films are '' Lăutarii'', '' Gypsies Are Found Ne ...

. Upon graduating from the directorial courses in 1979, Lopushansky assisted

Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky (, ; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter of Russian origin. He is widely considered one of the greatest directors in cinema history. Works by Andrei Tarkovsky, His films e ...

in directing the legendary film ''

Stalker Stalking is unwanted and/or repeated surveillance or contact by an individual or group toward another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring t ...

'', based on the novel ''Roadside Picnic'' by

Boris Strugatsky The brothers Arkady Strugatsky (28 August 1925 – 12 October 1991) and Boris Strugatsky (14 April 1933 – 19 November 2012) were Soviet and Russian science-fiction authors who collaborated through most of their careers. Their notable works i ...

. Lopushansky's thesis film ''Solo'' made in 1980 was about a musician playing his last concert during the

Siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad was a Siege, military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the city of Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II from 1941 t ...

. Since 1980 Lopushansky has worked as a production director at the

Lenfilm Lenfilm (, acronym of Leningrad Films) is a Russian production and distribution company with its own film studio located in Saint Petersburg (the city was called Leningrad from 1924 to 1991, thus the name). It is a corporation with its stakes s ...

cinema studio.

''Dead Man's Letters'' and breakthrough

In 1986, Konstantin Lopushansky made his feature film directorial debut with the post-apocalyptic film '' Dead Man's Letters'', which was co-written by Boris Strugatsky. It was screened at the

International Critics' Week Critics' Week (), until 2008 called International Critics' Week ('), is a parallel section to the Cannes Film Festival organized by the French Syndicate of Cinema Critics. History Critics' week was created in 1962, after the French Syndicate of ...

section 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 1987 and received the

FIPRESCI The International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI, short for ''Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique'') is an association of national organizations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the wor ...

prize at the 35th

International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg The Mannheim-Heidelberg International Film Festival (), often referred to by the German-language initialism IFFMH, is an annual film festival established in 1952 hosted jointly by the cities of Mannheim and Heidelberg in Baden-Württemberg, the ...

. Lopushanksy's 1989 film ''

'' was entered into the

16th Moscow International Film Festival The 16th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 7 to 18 July 1989. The Golden St. George was awarded to the Italian film '' The Icicle Thief'' directed by Maurizio Nichetti. Jury * Andrzej Wajda (Poland – President of the Jury) * G ...

where it won the Silver St. George and the Prix of Ecumenical Jury. Lopushansky's 1994 film '' Russian Symphony'' was screened in the Forum section of the

45th Berlin International Film Festival The 45th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 9 to 22 February 1995. Israeli film programmer Lia van Leer was the Jury President for the main competition. The Golden Bear was awarded to '' The Bait'' directed by Bertrand Tav ...

where it received the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. Lopushansky made the 2006 film ''

'', based on the novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The science-fiction film was about a writer who visits a boarding school for gifted children where the teachers are mutants. Lopushansky's 2013 drama film ''

The Role ''The Role'' () is a 2013 Russian drama film directed by Konstantin Lopushansky and starring Maksim Sukhanov. It tells the story of an actor who begins to act as his doppelgänger, a revolutionary leader in the newly established Soviet Russia. The ...

'' told the story of an actor who decides to impersonate a deceased commander of the Red Army. It was shown in competition at the

35th Moscow International Film Festival The 35th Moscow International Film Festival took place between 20 and 29 June 2013. ''World War Z (film), World War Z'' was selected as the opening film. The Golden George was awarded to the Turkish film ''Particle (film), Particle''. Films in c ...

. It received the

Nika Award The Nika Award (sometimes styled NIKA Award) is the main annual national film award in Russia, presented by the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Science, and seen as the national equivalent of the Oscars. In 2022 nominees were announced, b ...

for Best Screenplay. Konstantin Lopushansky's drama film ''Through the Black Glass'' was released in 2019.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lopushansky, Konstantin Film people from Dnipro Russian film directors Ukrainian film directors 1947 births Living people Russian people of Ukrainian descent Academicians of the National Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Russia Kazan Conservatory alumni