Yuri Nikolaevich Arabov (; 25 October 1954 – 27 December 2023) was a Russian screenwriter, writer, poet and educator. He was known for his long-lasting collaboration with

Alexander Sokurov Alexander Nikolayevich Sokurov, PAR (; born 14 June 1951) is a Russian filmmaker. His most significant works include a feature film, ''Russian Ark'' (2002), filmed in a single unedited shot, and ''Faust'' (2011), which was honoured with the G ...

. He was an Honored Artist of the Russian Federation (1999).

Biography

Yuri Arabov was born in Moscow into a mixed Russian-

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family. His parents met in

Tula, Russia Tula (, ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Tula Oblast in Russia, located south of Moscow. Tula is located in the northern Central Russian Upland on the banks of the Upa (river), Upa River, a tributary of the Oka (river), Ok ...

, the native town of his father, but divorced five years after Yuri's birth. He was raised by his mother, Maria Sauts from Feodosia,

Crimea Crimea ( ) is a peninsula in Eastern Europe, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to Kherson Oblast in mainland Ukrain ...

. In 1937 she moved to Moscow to study directing at VGIK under

Sergei Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein; (11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenwriter, film editor and film theorist. Considered one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, he was a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. He is no ...

, and later worked at the Gorky Film Studio as an assistant director and a

dubbing Dubbing (also known as re-recording and mixing) is a post-production process used in filmmaking and the video production process where supplementary recordings (known as doubles) are lip-synced and "mixed" with original production audio to cr ...

director.Nikolai Figurovsky which he finished in 1980. During the studies he met

who became his close friend and a regular collaborator ever afterwards. By 2017 they had produced 12 feature films together. Their first movie — '' The Lonely Voice of Man'' — was finished in 1978. Despite

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 ...

's approval, it was called "a propaganda of Russian

idealism Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical realism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysics, metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, Spirit (vital essence), spirit, or ...

" and banned for nine years, released only in 1987. The same happened to their next film '' Mournful Unconcern'': finished in 1983, it was released only in 1987. It was also nominated for the

Golden Bear The Golden Bear () is the highest prize awarded for the best film at the Berlin International Film Festival and is, along with the Palme d'Or and the Golden Lion, the most important international film festival award. The bear is the heraldic an ...

at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival. After that Sokurov and Arabov produced a lot of critically acclaimed movies, most famous of them being the so-called "

tetralogy A tetralogy (from Greek τετρα- ''tetra-'', "four" and -λογία ''-logia'', "discourse") is a compound work that is made up of four distinct works. The name comes from the Attic theater, in which a tetralogy was a group of three tragedies ...

of power" which includes ''

Moloch Moloch, Molech, or Molek is a word which appears in the Hebrew Bible several times, primarily in the Book of Leviticus. The Greek Septuagint translates many of these instances as "their king", but maintains the word or name ''Moloch'' in others, ...

'' (1999), '' Taurus'' (2001), ''

The Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot Plasma (physics), plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as ...

'' (2005) and ''

Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...

'' (2011), a film that won the

Golden Lion The Golden Lion () is the highest prize given to a film at the Venice Film Festival. The prize was introduced in 1949 by the organizing committee and is regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguished prizes. In 1970, a ...

at the

68th Venice International Film Festival The 68th annual Venice Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival was held from 31 August and 10 September 2011, at Venice Lido in Italy. American filmmaker Darren Aronofsky was the jury president for the main competition. Italian actre ...

. For his work on ''Moloch'' Yuri received the Best Screenplay Award at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival and the Best Script award at the 1999

Russian Guild of Film Critics The Russian Guild of Film Critics () is a Russian organization of professional film critics, headquartered in Moscow. Beginning in 1998, the guild began conferring annual awards in several categories. The awards were called the "Golden Ram" or ...

Awards.Nika Award. He also received Nika Awards for both ''The Sun'' and ''Faust'', as well as '' A Room and a Half'' — a semi-biographical film about

Joseph Brodsky Iosif Aleksandrovich Brodsky (; ; 24 May 1940 – 28 January 1996) was a Russian and American poet and essayist. Born in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union, Brodsky ran afoul of Soviet authorities and was expelled ("strongly ...

directed and co-written by Andrei Khrzhanovsky in 2009. Arabov created over 30 screenplays for both feature films and TV series. Besides Sokurov, he often worked with Aleksandr Proshkin and his son Andrei Proshkin, both prominent Russian film directors. He was a member of the Union of Cinematographers of the Russian Federation. Beginning in 1992 he was also working as an educator at VGIK where he served as the head of the Screenwriting Faculty until his death. Arabov was the author of several novels, including ''Big-Beat'' (2003), ''Wonder'' (2009), ''Orlean'' (2011) and ''A Butterfly Encounter'' (2014), as well as a number of poetry books. Arabov died on 27 December 2023, at the age of 69.

Filmography

Films

*1978 – '' The Lonely Voice of Man'' *1983 – '' Mournful Unconcern'' *1988 – '' Days of Eclipse'' *1988 – '' Mister Designer'' *1989 – '' The Devoted'' *1989 – '' Save and Protect'' *1990 – '' The Second Circle'' *1990 – '' The Sphinx'' *1992 – '' Presence'' *1992 – ''

Stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

'' *1994 – '' Whispering Pages'' *1997 – ''

Mother and Son ''Mother and Son'' is an Australian television sitcom that was broadcast on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) from 16 January 1984 until 21 March 1994. The show stars Ruth Cracknell, Garry McDonald, Henri Szeps and Judy Morris. ...

'' *1999 – ''

'' *2001 – '' Taurus'' *2002 – '' Modern Game'' *2002 – '' A Cat and a Half'' *2004 – '' Apocrypha : Music for Peter and Paul'' *2005 – ''

'' *2006 – '' Horror which is always with you'' *2008 – '' Yuri's Day'' *2009 – '' The Miracle'' *2009 – '' A Room and a Half'' *2011 – ''

'' *2012 – '' The Horde'' *2013 – ''

Mirrors A mirror, also known as a looking glass, is an object that reflects an image. Light that bounces off a mirror forms an image of whatever is in front of it, which is then focused through the lens of the eye or a camera. Mirrors reverse the ...

'' *2015 – '' Orlean'' *2015 – '' The Cage'' *2015 – '' The Guards'' *2016 – '' The Monk and the Demon'' *2020 – '' The Nose or the Conspiracy of Mavericks''

Television

*1990 – ''

Nikolai Vavilov Nikolai Ivanovich Vavilov ( rus, Никола́й Ива́нович Вави́лов, p=nʲɪkɐˈlaj ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ vɐˈvʲiləf, a=Ru-Nikolay_Ivanovich_Vavilov.ogg; – 26 January 1943) was a Russian and Soviet Union, Soviet agronom ...

'', 6 episodes *2005 – '' Doctor Zhivago'', 11 episodes *2005 – '' The Case of "Dead Souls"'', 8 episodes *2007 – ''

Lenin's Testament Lenin's Testament is a document alleged to have been dictated by Vladimir Lenin in late 1922 and early 1923, during and after his suffering of multiple strokes. In the testament, Lenin proposed changes to the structure of the Soviet governing bod ...

'', 12 episodes

Bibliography

*2003 – Big-Beat — Moscow: Andrew's Flag, 400 pages. *2009 – Wonder — Moscow: AST, 224 pages. *2011 – Orlean — Moscow: AST, 224 pages. *2014 – A Butterfly Encounter — Moscow: AST, 352 pages.

References

External links

*
Yuri Arabov
page at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

Main Role. Yuri Arabov
talk show by Russia-K, 2014 (in Russian)
Yuri Arabov: “Andrei Proshkin took risks of this script”
at the

Moscow International Film Festival The Moscow International Film Festival (, Transliteration, translit. ''Moskóvskiy myezhdunaródniy kinofyestivál''; abbreviated as MIFF) is a film festival first held in Moscow in 1935 and became regular since 1959. From its inception to ...

(2015) {{DEFAULTSORT:Arabov, Yuri 1954 births 2023 deaths Academicians of the National Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Russia Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography alumni Academic staff of the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography Recipients of the Nika Award Russian male novelists Russian male poets Russian people of Greek descent 20th-century Russian screenwriters Russian male screenwriters 20th-century Russian male writers State Prize of the Russian Federation laureates Soviet screenwriters Soviet male screenwriters Writers from Moscow Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay winners Honored Workers of the Arts Industry of the Russian Federation Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery