Moscow Elegy

The third documentary of the Elegias series, centers on the person of Andrei Tarkovski (1932-1986), one of the most important film makers in the history of cinema, director of classics such as Solaris (1972), The Mirror (1974), Stalker (1979), and The Sacrifice (1986). Tarkovski was impressed with Sokúrov’s first feature, The Lonely Voice of Man (1978), and sent a letter of recommendation to the Lenfilm studio where Sokúrov was finally to be employed in 1980. Tarkovski, in turn, went into voluntary exile in Florence, in Italy. “My task in this film was to establish a human approximation in relation to the memory and to the personality of this great film maker. I did not intend to broach all of the aspects of his life, but only to talk about what his legacy was to Russia and what occurred to him in the west where he found himself obliged to work”, says Sokúrov. Moscow Elegy was to be released to coincide with Tarkovski’s fiftieth birthday in 1982; however, the production was interrupted for a long time owing to censorship.

Was born in 1951 in the city of Podorvikha, Russia. His work, even as a student, was unacceptable to Russian bureaucracy, and he was accused of formalism and of assuming "anti-Soviet views". His first feature, The Lonely Human Voice (1978, 26th Mostra) was refused as a graduating project by the VGIK, the Russian Cinema Institute. Sokurov`s films were shown in Brazil since 1997, at the 21st Mostra, with Mother and Son. He had a retrospective of 33 of his films at 26th Mostra, when was also released the first book in Portuguese about his work, Aleksandr Sokúrov, by publishing house Cosac Naify. Among his most important films are Dolce (1999, 24th Mostra), Elegy of a Voyage (2001, 25th Mostra), The Russian Arc (2002, 26th Mostra), Father and Son (2003, 27th Mostra) Alexandra (2007, 32nd Mostra), in addition to the films that complete the Power Tetralogy: Moloch (1999, 23rd Mostra) about Hitler; Taurus, about Lenin (2001, 26th Mostra), and The Sun, about the Japanese emperor Hirohito (2005, 30th Mostra).

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA

43ª MOSTRA INTERNACIONAL DE CINEMA