Misplaced Pages

#307692

117-761: He was born in Irkutsk into a family of mixed Russian Jewish and Russian German descent. He graduated from gymnasium in 1917 and entered the Moscow College for Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. From 1918 - 1921, he served in the Red Army during the Russian Civil War , first as a signalman and later rising to the rank of inspector of a Special Commission concerning the numbers of the Red Army and Fleet (Russian: Особая комиссия по вопросам численности Красной Армии и Флота) of

234-776: A branch in Irkutsk. Additionally, there are R&D institutes including GAZPROM R&D Institute (a Branch of a Moscow-based institute), the Irkutsk Institute of Rare and Precious Metals and Diamonds (Irgiredmet) , part of the Petropavlovsk Group of Companies., and the Vostoksibacademcenter of the Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences that publishes the Project Baikal journal. Irkutsk plays

351-419: A collective letter to Joseph Stalin from workers in the cinema industry, declaring that "we work in different ways... but we are all inspired with a general desire to express the ideas that inspire the best part of mankind, the ideas of Marx and Lenin , the ideas of the brilliant Leader of the most outstanding and revolutionary party: Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin." Romm's first film, Boule de Suif (1934)

468-801: A condition possibly caused by the toxic locations used in the filming of Stalker . Tarkovsky was the recipient of numerous accolades throughout his career, including the FIPRESCI prize , the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury at the Cannes Film Festival in addition to the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival for his debut film, Ivan's Childhood as well as

585-726: A crucial role in Jules Verne’s 1876 novel Michael Strogoff . In the novel Strogoff is the heroic courier of the Czar Alexander II entrusted with delivering a critical dispatch to the Czar’s brother in Irkutsk with vital information about a rebellion brewing in Siberia. Irkutsk was home to Russian writer Valentin Rasputin ; many of his novels and stories take place in the Angara Valley. An essay on

702-492: A feeling of dignity and displayed wisdom that I have seldom come across on such a scale. Dovzhenko had obviously understood wherein the sense of life resides. [...] This trespassing of the border between nature and mankind is an ideal place for the existence of man. Dovzhenko understood this." He was also not a fan of blockbusters or science fiction, largely dismissing the latter for its "comic book" trappings and vulgar commercialism. However, in notable exceptions Tarkovsky praised

819-658: A fire burned out of control, destroying the palace of the Governor General, and the principal administrative and municipal offices. Many of the other public buildings, including the government archives, the library, and the museum of the Siberian section of the Russian Geographical Society , were completely ruined. Three-quarters of the city was destroyed, including approximately 4,000 houses. The city quickly rebounded, installing electricity in 1896. The first theater

936-661: A military hospital and the crown factories are among the public institutions and buildings. The Aleksandr Kolchak monument, designed by Vyacheslav Klykov , was unveiled in 2004. On July 27, 2004, the Irkutsk Synagogue (1881) was gutted by a fire. In December 2016, 74 people in Irkutsk died in a mass methanol poisoning , after drinking this toxic alcohol substitute. In 2018, the BBC reported that men in Irkutsk had an average life span of only 63. The society had declined and their health had suffered markedly. In October 2021, it

1053-728: A natural cause. Tarkovsky, his wife Larisa, and actor Anatoly Solonitsyn all died from the same type of cancer . Vladimir Sharun, a sound designer for Stalker , was convinced that all three died due to exposure to chemicals released from a chemical plant upstream from where the film was shot. Tarkovsky became a film director during the mid and late 1950s, a period referred to as the Khrushchev Thaw , during which Soviet society opened to foreign films, literature and music, among other things. This allowed Tarkovsky to see films of European, American and Japanese directors, an experience that influenced his own film making. His teacher and mentor at

1170-483: A new house, the owners usually adhered only to the orientation of the windows to the south side. This is how the layout of the oldest part of the city took shape — from Angara to modern Karl Marx Street: the main directions of the streets repeat the outlines of the coastline, which, in turn, are crossed by transverse passages connecting the outskirts of the city with the center and overlooking the Angara bank. The curvature of

1287-670: A number of private colleges: Siberian Institute of Law, Economics and Management (since 1993), Institute of Economics of ISTU (since 1996), and others. As Irkutsk is within the influence of the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of Sciences , there are nine research institutes located in the Irkutsk Academgorodok suburb: the Institute of Geography , the Energy System Institute , the Institute of Geochemistry ,

SECTION 10

#1732858767308

1404-643: A prank of sorts," stressing that no document confirms this narrative. Tarkovsky spent his childhood in Yuryevets . He was described by childhood friends as active and popular, having many friends and being typically in the center of action. His father left the family in 1937, subsequently volunteering for the army in 1941. He returned home in 1943, having been awarded a Red Star after being shot in one of his legs (which he would eventually need to amputate due to gangrene). Tarkovsky stayed with his mother, moving with her and his sister Marina to Moscow, where she worked as

1521-508: A proofreader at a printing press. In 1939, Tarkovsky enrolled at the Moscow School No. 554. During the war, the three evacuated to Yuryevets, living with his maternal grandmother. In 1943, the family returned to Moscow. Tarkovsky continued his studies at his old school, where the poet Andrei Voznesensky was one of his classmates. He studied piano at a music school and attended classes at an art school. The family lived on Shchipok Street in

1638-433: A relatively recent phenomenon, with the early film-making forming only a prelude. The list has also no films or directors from Tarkovsky's native Soviet Union, although he rated Soviet directors such as Boris Barnet , Sergei Parajanov and Alexander Dovzhenko highly. He said of Dovzhenko's Earth : "I have lived a lot among very simple farmers and met extraordinary people. They spread calmness, had such tact, they conveyed

1755-546: A script by his friend and long-term collaborator Andrei Konchalovsky . The film was set in 18th-century Russia during the reign of Peter the Great and starred Natalya Bondarchuk and Anatoli Papanov . To get the project approved by Goskino , Tarkovsky submitted a script that was different from the original script, omitting several scenes that were critical of the official atheism in the Soviet Union . After shooting roughly half of

1872-795: A son of a bitch... a cretin, a dog." In 1940-1943 he was an artistic leader for the Mosfilm films production. In 1942-1947 he was the director of a theater studio for movie actors. From 1938 he was a lecturer, from 1948 he was the leader of the actor's-producer department of the VGIK , professor (from 1962). He educated and influenced many prominent film-directors, including Andrei Tarkovsky , Grigory Chukhray , Vasily Shukshin , Nikita Mikhalkov , Georgiy Daneliya , Alexander Mitta , Igor Talankin , Revaz Chkheidze , Gleb Panfilov , Vladimir Basov , Tengiz Abuladze , Elem Klimov and many others. Dream (Mechta) (1941) starring Faina Ranevskaya and other famous actors

1989-696: Is Irkut , the Irkutsk Aviation Industrial Association, which was set up in 1932 in the Transbaykal region of the Soviet Union . It is best known as being the manufacturer of the Su-30 family of interceptor / ground-attack aircraft . The Russian government has merged Irkut with Ilyushin , Mikoyan , Sukhoi , Tupolev , and Yakovlev into a new company named United Aircraft Building Corporation . The Irkutsk Aluminium Smelter which belongs to

2106-478: Is characterized by an extreme variation of temperatures between seasons. It can be very warm in the summer, and very cold in the winter. However, Lake Baikal has a tempering effect, giving Irkutsk temperatures that are slightly less extreme than at similar latitudes elsewhere in Siberia. The warmest month of the year is July, when the average temperature is +19 °C (66 °F); the highest temperature recorded being +37.2 °C (99.0 °F). The coldest month of

2223-485: Is considered one of the high points of Romm's career. The film reveals deep spiritual crises, material and spiritual misery of inhabitants of a hostel titled Dream (Mechta). President Roosevelt said it was one of the greatest films in the world. Another prominent film of Romm's was about young nuclear physicists; Nine Days in One Year (1962). The documentary Triumph Over Violence , (aka Ordinary Fascism ) (1965) about

2340-550: Is included in UNESCO's tentative list of World Heritage Sites . Irkutsk was named after the Irkut River . Its name was derived from the Buryat word for "spinning," and was used as an ethnonym among local tribes, who were known as Yrkhu , Irkit , Irgit , and Irgyt . The city was formerly known as Yandashsky , named after the local Tuvan chief Yandasha Gorogi. The old spelling of

2457-420: Is intellectual, but for me, all the arts, and cinema even more so, must above all be emotional and act upon the heart." His films are characterized by metaphysical themes, extremely long takes , and images often considered by critics to be of exceptional beauty. Recurring motifs are dreams, memory, childhood, running water accompanied by fire, rain indoors, reflections, levitation, and characters re-appearing in

SECTION 20

#1732858767308

2574-528: Is reflected in the first of the known plans of Irkutsk in 1729. Its main advantage is the fixation of the city's borders, which ran along the line of the modern Karl Marx Street. Between 1729 and 1768 in the space between Angara and Ushakovka, the first "zapalisadny" row of blocks is formed. A spontaneous settlement appears near the soldiers' barracks, first along the roads that approached the Mill and Overseas gates, and then between them. The development proceeded unevenly,

2691-618: Is the largest city and administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast , Russia . With a population of 587,891 as of the 2010 Census, Irkutsk is the 25th-largest city in Russia by population , the fifth-largest in the Siberian Federal District , and one of the largest cities in Siberia . Located in the south of the eponymous oblast, the city proper lies on the Angara River , a tributary of

2808-475: Is typical in Eastern Siberia. The population has been shrinking since the late 1980s: 587,891 ( 2010 Census ) ; 593,604 ( 2002 Census ) ; 622,301 ( 1989 Soviet census ) . . According to the regional plan, Irkutsk city will be combined with its neighboring industrial towns of Shelekhov and Angarsk to form a metropolitan area with a total population of over a million. The center of

2925-524: The Angara River , a tributary of the Yenisei , 72 kilometers (45 mi) below its outflow from Lake Baikal and on the bank opposite the suburb of Glaskovsk. The river, 580 meters (1,900 ft) wide, is crossed by the Irkutsk Hydroelectric Dam and three other bridges downstream. The Irkut River , from which the town takes its name, is a smaller river that joins the Angara directly opposite

3042-607: The Armorial of the Russian Empire . Furthermore, the tigers became extinct in this part of Siberia. In the 1870s, a high-placed French heraldist with a limited command of Russian assumed that "babr" was a misspelling of "bobr", the Russian word for " beaver ", and changed the wording accordingly. This modification engendered a long dispute between the local authorities, who were so confused by the revised description that they started to depict

3159-719: The BAFTA Film Award for The Sacrifice . In 1990, he was posthumously awarded the Soviet Union's prestigious Lenin Prize . Three of his films— Andrei Rublev , Mirror , and Stalker —featured in Sight & Sound 's 2012 poll of the 100 greatest films of all time . Andrei Tarkovsky was born in the village of Zavrazhye in the Yuryevetsky District of the Ivanovo Industrial Oblast (modern-day Kadyysky District of

3276-456: The FIPRESCI prize and the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. Tarkovsky also shared a special prize called Grand Prix du cinéma de création with Robert Bresson . Soviet authorities lobbied to prevent the film from winning the Palme d'Or , a fact that hardened Tarkovsky's resolve to never work in the Soviet Union again. After Cannes he went to London to stage and choreograph the opera Boris Godunov at

3393-786: The Institute of System Dynamics and Control Theory , the Earth's Crust Institute , the Solar-Terrestrial Physics Institute , the Institute of Chemistry , the Limnological Institute (formerly located on Lake Baikal's shore), the Institute of Plant Physics , Laser Physics Institute (a Branch of the Institute of Laser Physics in Novosibirsk). A number of institutes conduct research within Irkutsk State University :

3510-498: The James Cameron blockbuster film The Terminator , saying that its "vision of the future and the relation between man and its destiny is pushing the frontier of cinema as an art". He was critical of the "brutality and low acting skills", but was nevertheless impressed by the film. He equally liked George Lucas 's Star Wars according to his son, Andrei A. Tarkovsky. In a 1962 interview, Tarkovsky argued: "All art, of course,

3627-735: The Kostroma Oblast , Russia) to the poet and translator Arseny Aleksandrovich Tarkovsky , a native of Yelysavethrad (now Kropyvnytskyi , Ukraine), and Maria Ivanova Vishnyakova, a graduate of the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute who later worked as a proofreader; she was born in Moscow in the Dubasov family estate. Andrei's paternal grandfather Aleksandr Karlovich Tarkovsky (in Polish: Aleksander Karol Tarkowski )

Mikhail Romm - Misplaced Pages Continue

3744-631: The Krasnoyarsk Province . During this time in the taiga , Tarkovsky decided to study film. Upon returning from the research expedition in 1954, Tarkovsky applied at the State Institute of Cinematography ( VGIK ) and was admitted to the film-directing program. He was in the same class as Irma Raush (Irina) whom he married in April 1957. The early Khrushchev era offered good opportunities for young film directors. Before 1953, annual film production

3861-625: The Royal Opera House under the musical direction of Claudio Abbado . At a press conference in Milan on 10 July 1984, he announced that he would never return to the Soviet Union and would remain in Western Europe. He stated, "I am not a Soviet dissident, I have no conflict with the Soviet Government," but if he returned home, he added, "I would be unemployed." At that time, his son Andriosha

3978-599: The Rusal Company. Important roads and railways like the Trans-Siberian Highway (Federal M53 and M55 Highways) and Trans-Siberian Railway connect Irkutsk to other regions in Russia and Mongolia . The city is also served by the Irkutsk International Airport and the smaller Irkutsk Northwest Airport . The Federal road and railway to Moscow and Vladivostok pass through the other side of

4095-668: The Siberian Route , was built in 1760, and benefited the town economy. Many new products, often imported from China via Kyakhta , became widely available in Irkutsk for the first time, including gold , diamonds , fur , wood , silk , and tea . In 1821, as part of the Mikhail Speransky 's reforms, Siberia was administratively divided at the Yenisei River . Irkutsk became the seat of the Governor-General of East Siberia. In

4212-631: The Third Reich gained over forty million viewers. No other historic documentary won such a numerous audience. He wrote many books and articles on the theory of cinematographic art, and also memoirs. He was an honorary corresponding member of the Academy of the skills of DDR (1967). He died in Moscow in 1971. Irkutsk Irkutsk ( / ɪər ˈ k u t s k / eer- KOOTSK ; Russian: Иркутск , IPA: [ɪrˈkutsk] ; Buryat and Mongolian : Эрхүү , Erhüü , [ɛrˈxuː] )

4329-515: The Venice Film Festival in the year 1962. In the same year, on 30 September, his first son Arseny (called Senka in Tarkovsky's diaries) Tarkovsky was born. In 1965, he directed the film Andrei Rublev about the life of Andrei Rublev , the fifteenth-century Russian icon painter . Andrei Rublev was not, except for a single screening in Moscow in 1966, immediately released after completion due to problems with Soviet authorities. Tarkovsky had to cut

4446-627: The Yakutsk customs office from about 1642. It has its origin in a seal of the Siberia Khanate representing a sable and showcasing the fact that Siberia (or rather Yugra ) was the main source of sable fur throughout the Middle Ages . (Actually, the English word "sable" is derived from the Russian "sobol"). By the mid-19th century, the word "babr" had fallen out of common usage, but it was still recorded in

4563-464: The Yenisei , about 850 kilometres (530 mi) to the south-east of Krasnoyarsk and about 520 kilometres (320 mi) north of Ulaanbaatar . The Trans-Siberian Highway (Federal M53 and M55 Highways) and Trans-Siberian Railway connect Irkutsk to other regions in Russia and Mongolia . Many distinguished Russians were sent into exile in Irkutsk for their part in the Decembrist revolt of 1825, and

4680-431: The Zamoskvorechye District in Moscow. From November 1947 to spring 1948 he was in the hospital with tuberculosis. Many themes of his childhood—the evacuation, his mother and her two children, the withdrawn father, the time in the hospital—feature prominently in his film Mirror . In his school years, Tarkovsky was a troublemaker and a poor student. He still managed to graduate, and from 1951 to 1952 studied Arabic at

4797-404: The districts . As a municipal division , the City of Irkutsk is incorporated as Irkutsk Urban Okrug . The coat of arms of Irkutsk features an old symbol of Dauria : a Siberian tiger with a sable in his mouth. When the coat of arms was devised in 1690, the animal was described as a tiger ("babr", a bookish word of Persian derivation) with a sable in his mouth. This image had been used by

Mikhail Romm - Misplaced Pages Continue

4914-407: The "Reds". In 1920, Aleksandr Kolchak , the once-feared commander of the largest contingent of anti-Bolshevik forces, was executed in Irkutsk. This effectively destroyed the anti-Bolshevik resistance. Irkutsk was the administrative center of the short-lived East Siberian Oblast , from 1936 to 1937. The city subsequently became the administrative center of Irkutsk Oblast , after East Siberian Oblast

5031-402: The "babr" as a fabulous animal, half-tiger and half-beaver. The Soviets abolished the image altogether, but it was restored following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The 662.4 MW Irkutsk Hydroelectric Power Station was the first cascade hydroelectric power station in the Irkutsk region. The construction of the dam started in 1950 and finished in 1958. The largest industry in Irkutsk

5148-406: The 1999–2000 period. Although the epidemic, which started in 1999, is reported to have slowed down, Irkutsk will lose tens of thousands of its working age population from 2010 onwards. This is one of the reasons Irkutsk's male life expectancy, at 53 years, is one of the lowest in all of Russia. Preventive measures are in place to prevent the spread of the epidemic to the generation which was born after

5265-454: The Angara River from central Irkutsk. Trams are one major mode of public transit in Irkutsk. Other modes are trolleybus, bus, fixed-route taxi ( marshrutka ) and cycling. Despite its remoteness, Irkutsk was reported in 2004 to have the highest HIV infection rate in Russia. Tens of thousands of drug addicts, mostly ethnic Russians in their mid to late teens are infected. The number of reported AIDS cases increased by more than 10,000% during

5382-426: The Dunes by Hiroshi Teshigahara . He also liked Pier Paolo Pasolini 's film The Gospel According to St. Matthew . Among his favorite directors were Buñuel, Mizoguchi, Bergman, Bresson, Kurosawa, Michelangelo Antonioni , Jean Vigo , and Carl Theodor Dreyer . With the exception of City Lights , the list does not contain any films of the early silent era. The reason is that Tarkovsky saw film as an art as only

5499-412: The Field Staff of the Supreme Military Soviet of the Republic (Полевой штаб Реввоенсовета Республики) [1] . As such he traveled a lot and had the opportunity to see much of the life in different parts of the country, something that he later said he "recalled with gratitude". After the end of his military career, Romm received a scholarship from the Soviet government. In 1925 he graduated as a sculptor from

5616-402: The German writer and poet E. T. A. Hoffmann . In December 1976, he directed Hamlet , his only stage play, at the Lenkom Theatre in Moscow. The main role was played by Anatoly Solonitsyn , who also acted in several of Tarkovsky's films. At the end of 1978, he also wrote the screenplay Sardor together with the writer Aleksandr Misharin. The last film Tarkovsky completed in the Soviet Union

5733-423: The Institute of Biology, the Institute of Oil and Coal Chemistry and Synthesis, the Laboratory of Quantum Chemistry, the Institute of Applied Physics, the Interregional Institute of Social Studies, the Astronomical Observatory, and the Botanical Gardens. The East-Siberian Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences is also located in Irkutsk and is represented by the following research organizations:

5850-418: The Oriental Institute in Moscow, a branch of the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union . Although he already spoke some Arabic and was a successful student in his first semesters, he did not finish his studies and dropped out to work as a prospector for the Academy of Science Institute for Non-Ferrous Metals and Gold. He participated in a year-long research expedition to the river Kureyka near Turukhansk in

5967-434: The Prize of the Ecumenical Jury. As Tarkovsky was unable to attend due to his illness, the prizes were collected by his son. In Tarkovsky's last diary entry (15 December 1986), he wrote: "But now I have no strength left—that is the problem". The diaries are sometimes also known as Martyrology and were published posthumously in 1989 and in English in 1991. Tarkovsky died in Paris on 29 December 1986. His funeral ceremony

SECTION 50

#1732858767308

6084-417: The Scientific Center for Medical Ecology, the Institute for Paediatrics and Human Reproduction, the Institute for Microbiology and Epidemiology, the Institute for Medicine of the Workplace and Human Ecology, the Institute of Reconstructive and Restorative Surgery, the Institute of Surgery, and the Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedics. Also, the Fyodorov Eye Microsurgery Scientific and Technical Center has

6201-412: The Siberian winter falls as fluffy, dry snow. Irkutsk is the administrative center of the oblast and, within the framework of administrative divisions , it also serves as the administrative center of Irkutsky District , even though it is not a part of it. As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as the City of Irkutsk —an administrative unit with the status equal to that of

6318-424: The Soviet Union: Ivan's Childhood (1962), Andrei Rublev (1966), Solaris (1972), Mirror (1975), and Stalker (1979). After years of creative conflict with state film authorities , he left the country in 1979 and made his final two films— Nostalghia (1983) and The Sacrifice (1986)—abroad. In 1986, he published Sculpting in Time , a book about cinema and art. He died later that year of cancer,

6435-438: The Soviet days. She was married to Ivan Ivanovich Vishnyakov, a native of the Kaluga Governorate who studied law at the Moscow State University and served as a judge in Kozelsk . According to the family legend, Tarkovsky's ancestors on his father's side were princes from the Shamkhalate of Tarki , Dagestan, although his sister, Marina Tarkovskaya , who conducted detailed research on their genealogy, called it "a myth, even

6552-401: The VGIK, Tarkovsky met Andrei Konchalovsky . They found much in common as they liked the same film directors and shared ideas on cinema and films. In 1959, they wrote the script Antarctica – Distant Country , which was later published in the Moskovsky Komsomolets . Tarkovsky submitted the script to Lenfilm , but it was rejected. They were more successful with the script The Steamroller and

6669-425: The Violin , which they sold to Mosfilm . This became Tarkovsky's graduation project, earning him his diploma in 1960 and winning First Prize at the New York Student Film Festival in 1961. Tarkovsky's first feature film was Ivan's Childhood in 1962. He had inherited the film from director Eduard Abalov, who had to abort the project. The film earned Tarkovsky international acclaim and won the Golden Lion award at

6786-408: The advancement of Russian explorers in the Angara region, soon ceased to be only a defensive structure due to the advantage of its geographical position. According to historical documents, 10 years later, in 1671, here, in addition to servicemen and yasak people, lived "plowed peasants with their wives and children." A posad appeared, which gave rise to residential quarters of the future city. As for

6903-575: The art of cinema has only been truly mastered by very few filmmakers, stating in a 1970 interview with Naum Abramov that "they can be counted on the fingers of one hand". In 1972, Tarkovsky told film historian Leonid Kozlov his ten favorite films. The list is as follows: Diary of a Country Priest and Mouchette by Robert Bresson ; Winter Light , Wild Strawberries , and Persona by Ingmar Bergman ; Nazarín by Luis Buñuel ; City Lights by Charlie Chaplin ; Ugetsu by Kenji Mizoguchi ; Seven Samurai by Akira Kurosawa , and Woman in

7020-421: The barracks of the local garrison were taken out. The construction of the palisade changed the process of the spontaneous evolution of buildings and influenced the formation of the city's layout in the most significant way. After the fortification was dismantled in 1790, a complete mismatch of street directions in the old and new parts of the city was revealed. The state of development of the "pre-palisade" period

7137-755: The breakup of the USSR. There are state-owned and privately owned television stations in Irkutsk, including state company IGTRK and private ones, such as AS Baikal TV, TV company AIST, TV company Gorod, and also other media outlets, like the VSP Newspaper Agency. There is also a live webcam broadcasting from the city center. Irkutsk is home to the East Siberian Education Academy (since 1909), Irkutsk State University (1918), Irkutsk State Medical University (1918), Baykalsky State University of Economics and Law (since 1932), Irkutsk State Technical University (since 1939), Irkutsk State Academy of Agriculture , Irkutsk State Linguistic University (1948), Irkutsk State Railway Transport University (since 1975), and

SECTION 60

#1732858767308

7254-449: The center of the largest region in Russia—Eastern Siberia, which included Transbaikalia, Yakutia, the entire northeast to the Pacific Ocean. Irkutsk needed to expand, and by that time there were no enemies ready to lay claim to the city. The palisade was dismantled, and in its place appeared Bolshaya Preshpektnaya Street, now Karla Marxa Street, the only straight street in modern Irkutsk. The devastating fire of 1879 made its own adjustments to

7371-544: The central streets and the disparity of the quarters formed by them, shows the spontaneous process of their formation. This is especially noticeable in the example of Basninskaya Street (now Sverdlova Street), which they tried to straighten with each new attempt to streamline the development. And it simply repeated the outlines of the log that once was here, formed, possibly, by the old lady of the Gryaznushka river, which connected Ushakovka and Angara. In 1726, defensive fortifications (palisade) were built in Irkutsk, behind which

7488-457: The city became an exile-post for the rest of the century. Some historic wooden houses still survive. When the railway reached Irkutsk, it had earned the nickname of "The Paris of Siberia." The city was the center of bitter fighting in the Russian Civil War of 1918–20. Afterward, in the Soviet period, its architecture was dominated by the mandatory squared-up style. The city became a major centre of aircraft manufacture. The historic centre of Irkutsk

7605-477: The city's name was «Иркуцкъ». Before the revolution, the city was called "East Paris", "Siberian Petersburg", "Siberian Athens". In 1652, Ivan Pokhabov built a zimovye (winter quarters) near the site of Irkutsk for gold trading and for collecting fur taxes from the Buryats . In 1661, Yakov Pokhabov built an ostrog (a small fort) nearby. The ostrog gained official town rights from the government in 1686. The Irkutsk prison, founded in 1661 as an outpost for

7722-418: The city. The main portion of the city is separated from several landmarks—the monastery, the fort and the port, as well as its suburbs—by another tributary, the Ida (or Ushakovka) River. The two main parts of Irkutsk are customarily referred to as the "left bank" and the "right bank", with respect to the flow of the Angara River. Irkutsk is situated in a landscape of rolling hills within the thick taiga that

7839-402: The class of Anna Golubkina of the Highest Artistic-Technical Institute and worked as a sculptor and translator . In 1928-1930 he conducted research on the theory of cinema in the Institute for the methods of extra-scholastic work ( Institut metodov vneshkol'noy raboty ). From 1931 he worked at the Mosfilm studio, first as an assistant, and screen writer. In October 1934, he co-signed

7956-431: The closest to the current state at that time were the fragments of buildings located in the area of Zamorskaya (Lenin st.) And Institutskaya (Oktyabrskaya Revolyutsii st.) Streets. Now it is, roughly, quarters No. 90, 91, 92. The last third of the 18th century was significant both for the history of the city as a whole and for the formation of its buildings. With the formation of the Irkutsk province in 1764, Irkutsk became

8073-428: The construction laws as it was from here that the border began, beyond which it was forbidden to build from wood. This has divided the old Irkutsk into two parts: closer to the Angara river, mainly stone buildings remained, and on the other side, where there were once outskirts, the wooden Irkutsk grew. Irkutsk has a borderline humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dwb , bordering Dwc ). Irkutsk

8190-638: The cultural history of Irkutsk (and another one about the nearby Lake Baikal) is included in Rasputin's non-fiction collection Siberia, Siberia , which is also available in an English translation. Irkutsk also figures prominently in descriptions by foreign travelers, including the so-called British "Blind Traveler" James Holman , who was suspected of spying and conducted back forcibly to the frontiers of Poland . Andrei Tarkovsky Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky ( Russian : Андрей Арсеньевич Тарковский , pronounced [ɐnˈdrʲej ɐrˈsʲenʲjɪvʲɪtɕ tɐrˈkofskʲɪj] ; 4 April 1932 – 29 December 1986)

8307-449: The early 19th century, many Russian artists, officers, and nobles were sent into exile in Siberia for their part in the Decembrist revolt against Tsar Nicholas I . Irkutsk became the major center of intellectual and social life for these exiles, and they developed much of the city's cultural heritage. They had wooden houses built that were adorned with ornate, hand-carved decorations. Many still survive today, in stark contrast with

8424-654: The eastern wall of the fortress and also preserved to this day, this is one of the oldest stone buildings in Siberia. The protective palisade and the moat, which once defended the Irkutsk fortress from the south, from the Angara bank to the Ushakovka River, existed until the middle of the 18th century. In early Irkutsk there were no streets at all, the buildings approached the driveways with random turns and only with subsequent alterations were turned around with front facades. The first settlers did not orientate their houses in relation to neighboring buildings either. When building

8541-450: The end of the year Tarkovsky was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. In January 1986, he began treatment in Paris and was joined there by his son, Andre Jr, who was finally allowed to leave the Soviet Union. What would be Tarkovsky's final film was dedicated to him. The Sacrifice was presented at the Cannes Film Festival and received the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury , the FIPRESCI prize and

8658-407: The film school, Mikhail Romm , allowed his students considerable freedom and emphasized the independence of the film director. Tarkovsky was, according to fellow student Shavkat Abdusalmov, fascinated by Japanese films. He was amazed by how every character on the screen is exceptional and how everyday events such as a Samurai cutting bread with his sword are elevated to something special and put into

8775-461: The film several times, resulting in several different versions of varying lengths. The film was widely released in the Soviet Union in a cut version in 1971. Nevertheless, the film had a budget of more than 1 million rubles – a significant sum for that period. A version of the film was presented at the Cannes Film Festival in 1969 and won the FIPRESCI prize . He divorced his wife, Irina, in June 1970. In

8892-524: The film the project was stopped by Goskino after it became apparent that the film differed from the script submitted to the censors. Tarkovsky was reportedly infuriated by this interruption and destroyed most of the film. During the summer of 1979, Tarkovsky traveled to Italy, where he shot the documentary Voyage in Time together with his long-time friend Tonino Guerra . Tarkovsky returned to Italy in 1980 for an extended trip, during which he and Guerra completed

9009-475: The film-makers received no returns. Third category films also placed the film-makers in danger of being accused of wasting public funds, which could have serious effects on their future productivity. These difficulties are presumed to have made Tarkovsky play with the idea of going abroad and producing a film outside the Soviet film industry. During 1975, Tarkovsky also worked on the screenplay Hoffmanniana , about

9126-412: The flat and arrested Slivkin, who was shot the following March. Despite that, Romm completed the film in time for Stalin to have a private viewing on 6 November 1937, just before its release. He then returned, again, to work on The Queen of Spades , but in 1938, the project was terminated by the new head of the cinema industry, Semyon Dukelsky , a former NKVD officer whom Romm later described as "an idiot,

9243-630: The foreground of long panning movements of the camera. He once said: "Juxtaposing a person with an environment that is boundless, collating him with a countless number of people passing by close to him and far away, relating a person to the whole world, that is the meaning of cinema." Tarkovsky incorporated levitation scenes into several of his films, most notably Solaris . To him these scenes possess great power and are used for their photogenic value and magical inexplicability. Water, clouds, and reflections were used by him for their surreal beauty and photogenic value, as well as their symbolism, such as waves or

9360-507: The forms of brooks or running water. Bells and candles are also frequent symbols. These are symbols of film, sight and sound, and Tarkovsky's film frequently has themes of self-reflection. Tarkovsky developed a theory of cinema that he called "sculpting in time". By this he meant that the unique characteristic of cinema as a medium was to take our experience of time and alter it. Unedited movie footage transcribes time in real time . By using long takes and few cuts in his films, he aimed to give

9477-433: The historical part of the city is Kirov Square. In that place on July 6, 1661, Yakov Pokhabov laid a prison for collecting Yasak , a tax collected from the local population with fur. The architectural appearance of present-day Irkutsk has been born since the days of the wooden prison. The historic center of the city is now in its place. By the beginning of the 18th century, it had turned into a wooden fortress, which protected

9594-506: The idea that contemporary films meaningfully use color. He claimed that in everyday life one does not consciously notice colors most of the time, and that color should therefore be used in film mainly to emphasize certain moments, but not all the time, as this distracts the viewer. To him, films in color were like moving paintings or photographs, which are too beautiful to be a realistic depiction of life. Director Ingmar Bergman commented on Tarkovsky: My discovery of Tarkovsky's first film

9711-590: The inhabitants from the raids of nomads. A major fire of 1716 almost completely destroyed the fortifications, but in just a year new ones were built, already made of stone. Of the buildings on the territory of the Irkutsk Kremlin of that time, the Savior Church has survived, the stone building of which was laid in 1706 in the north-western corner of the fort. Along with the Epiphany Cathedral, erected behind

9828-510: The limelight. Tarkovsky has also expressed interest in the art of Haiku and its ability to create "images in such a way that they mean nothing beyond themselves". Tarkovsky was also a deeply religious Orthodox Christian , who believed great art should have a higher spiritual purpose. He was a perfectionist not given to humor or humility: his signature style was ponderous and literary, having many characters that pondered over religious themes and issues regarding faith. Tarkovsky perceived that

9945-552: The nature of film, as it captures life as a reflection, life as a dream. Contrarily, however, Bergman conceded the truth in the claim made by a critic who wrote that "with Autumn Sonata Bergman does Bergman", adding: "Tarkovsky began to make Tarkovsky films, and that Fellini began to make Fellini films [...] Buñuel nearly always made Buñuel films." This pastiche of one's own work has been derogatorily termed as "self-karaoke". Tarkovsky worked in close collaboration with cinematographer Vadim Yusov from 1958 to 1972, and much of

10062-449: The otherwise monochrome Andrei Rublev , which features a color epilogue of Rublev's authentic religious icon paintings. All of his films afterwards contain monochrome, and in Stalker's case sepia sequences, while otherwise being in color. In 1966, in an interview conducted shortly after finishing Andrei Rublev , Tarkovsky dismissed color film as a "commercial gimmick" and cast doubt on

10179-425: The prison itself, as its influence in the region grew, it was completely rebuilt twice (in 1669 and 1693), expanding in size. The fate of the prison was such that its military-defensive significance was less noticeable than other previously erected forts near the Angara, for example, Bratsk (1631) or Verkholensk (1644). However, its location at the crossroads of colonization, trade and industrial routes predetermined

10296-691: The provincial chancellery, the house of the vice-governor (former voivodship) with barns and cellars, the Church of the Savior. "Small town" was the administrative center of the vast Irkutsk province since 1731. In the "big city", as the posad was called, the commercial and economic life of Irkutsk was concentrated. It was inhabited mainly by people from the northern regions of Russia: Veliky Ustyug , Yarensk , Pinega , Solvychegodsk , Pereyaslavl-Zalessky , who brought their traditions, customs, and culture to Siberia. The first road connection between Moscow and Irkutsk,

10413-418: The role of Irkutsk in the history of Eastern Siberia. In 1682 it became the center of an independent region, and in 1686 it received the status of a city. Irkutsk at the beginning of the 18th century was divided into two parts: "small town", or the prison itself, and "big city". The first one started from the bank of the Angara and was a wooden fortress with adjacent buildings. These included the stone building of

10530-510: The same year, he married Larisa Kizilova (née Egorkina), who had been a production assistant for the film Andrei Rublev (they had been living together since 1965). Their son, Andrei Andreyevich Tarkovsky, (nicknamed Andriosha, meaning "little Andre" or "Andre Junior") was born in the same year on 7 August. In 1972, he completed Solaris , an adaptation of the novel Solaris by Stanisław Lem . He had worked on this together with screenwriter Friedrich Gorenstein as early as 1968. The film

10647-439: The screenplay for this film since 1967, under the consecutive titles Confession , White day and A white, white day . From the beginning the film was not well received by Soviet authorities due to its content and its perceived elitist nature. Soviet authorities placed the film in the "third category", a severely limited distribution, and only allowed it to be shown in third-class cinemas and workers' clubs. Few prints were made and

10764-436: The script based on Roadside Picnic . Work on this film began in 1976. The production was mired in troubles; improper development of the negatives had ruined all the exterior shots. Tarkovsky's relationship with cinematographer Georgy Rerberg deteriorated to the point where he hired Alexander Knyazhinsky as a new first cinematographer. Furthermore, Tarkovsky had a heart attack in April 1978, resulting in further delay. The film

10881-458: The script for the film Nostalghia . During this period, he took Polaroid photographs depicting his personal life. Tarkovsky returned to Italy in 1982 to start shooting Nostalghia , but Mosfilm then withdrew from the project, so he sought and received financial backing from the Italian RAI . Tarkovsky completed the film in 1983, and it was presented at the Cannes Film Festival where it won

10998-609: The standard Soviet apartment blocks that surround them. By the end of the 19th century, the population consisted of one exiled man for every two locals. People of varying backgrounds, from members of the Decembrist uprising to Bolsheviks , had been in Irkutsk for many years and had greatly influenced the culture and development of the city. As a result, Irkutsk became a prosperous cultural and educational center in Eastern Siberia . From 1848 to 1861, Count Nikolay Muravyov-Amursky

11115-447: The two films with Tarkovsky. An important influence on Tarkovsky was the film director Grigory Chukhray , who was teaching at the VGIK. Impressed by the talent of his student, Chukhray offered Tarkovsky a position as assistant director for his film Clear Skies . Tarkovsky initially showed interest but then decided to concentrate on his studies and his own projects. During his third year at

11232-503: The viewers a sense of time passing, time lost, and the relationship of one moment in time to another. Up to, and including, his film Mirror , Tarkovsky focused his cinematic works on exploring this theory. After Mirror , he announced that he would focus his work on exploring the dramatic unities proposed by Aristotle : a concentrated action, happening in one place, within the span of a single day. Several of Tarkovsky's films have color or black-and-white sequences. This first occurs in

11349-431: The visual style of Tarkovsky's films can be attributed to this collaboration. Tarkovsky would spend two days preparing for Yusov to film a single long take, and due to the preparation, usually only a single take was needed. In his last film, The Sacrifice , Tarkovsky worked with cinematographer Sven Nykvist , who had worked on many films with director Ingmar Bergman . (Nykvist was not alone: several people involved in

11466-400: The year is January, when the average temperature is −17.6 °C (0.3 °F), and record low of −49.7 °C (−57.5 °F). Precipitation varies widely throughout the year, with July being the wettest month, when precipitation averages 107 millimeters (4.2 in). The driest month is February, when precipitation averages only 9 millimeters (0.35 in). Almost all precipitation during

11583-412: Was Stalker , inspired by the novel Roadside Picnic by the brothers Arkady and Boris Strugatsky . Tarkovsky had met the brothers first in 1971 and was in contact with them until his death in 1986. Initially he wanted to shoot a film based on their novel Dead Mountaineer's Hotel and he developed a raw script. Influenced by a discussion with Arkady Strugatsky he changed his plan and began to work on

11700-468: Was Mikhail Romm , who taught many film students who would later become influential film directors. In 1956, Tarkovsky directed his first student short film, The Killers , from a short story of Ernest Hemingway . The longer television film There Will Be No Leave Today followed in 1959. Both films were a collaboration between the VGIK students. Classmate Aleksandr Gordon , who married Tarkovsky's sister, in particular directed, wrote, edited, and acted in

11817-408: Was a Polish nobleman who worked as a bank clerk. His wife Maria Danilovna Rachkovskaya was a Romanian language teacher who arrived from Iași . Andrei's maternal grandmother Vera Nikolayevna Vishnyakova (née Dubasova) belonged to an old Dubasov family of Russian nobility that traces its history back to the 17th century; among her relatives was Admiral Fyodor Dubasov , a fact she had to conceal during

11934-531: Was a Soviet film director and screenwriter. He has been widely considered one of the greatest directors in cinema history. His films explore spiritual and metaphysical themes and are known for their slow pacing and long takes , dreamlike visual imagery and preoccupation with nature and memory. Tarkovsky studied film at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography under filmmaker Mikhail Romm and subsequently directed his first five features in

12051-404: Was a silent version of Guy de Maupassant's eponymous story . Next he began work on a film version of The Queen of Spades , which he intended to have ready in time for the centenary of the death of its author, the poet Alexander Pushkin . and which was to include large sections of wordless pantomime. In 1936, he commissioned Sergei Prokofiev to write the incidental music. At the same time, he

12168-528: Was assassinated by the KGB . Evidence for this hypothesis includes testimonies by former KGB agents who claim that Viktor Chebrikov gave the order to eradicate Tarkovsky to curtail what the Soviet government and the KGB saw as anti-Soviet propaganda by Tarkovsky. Other evidence includes several memoranda that surfaced after the 1991 coup and the claim by one of Tarkovsky's doctors that his cancer could not have developed from

12285-459: Was built in 1897 and a major train station opened in 1898. The first train arrived in Irkutsk on August 16 of that year. By 1900, the city had earned the nickname of "The Paris of Siberia." During the Russian Civil War , which broke out after the October Revolution , Irkutsk became the site of many furious, bloody clashes between the " White movement " and the " Bolsheviks ", known as

12402-470: Was completed in 1979 and won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the Cannes Film Festival . In a question and answer session at the Edinburgh Filmhouse on 11 February 1981, Tarkovsky trenchantly rejected suggestions that the film was either impenetrably mysterious or a political allegory . In 1979, Tarkovsky began production of the film The First Day (Russian: Первый День Pervyj Dyen ), based on

12519-405: Was divided into Chita Oblast and Irkutsk Oblast. During the communist years, the industrialization of Irkutsk and Siberia in general was strongly encouraged. The large Irkutsk Reservoir was built on the Angara River between 1950 and 1959 in order to generate hydroelectric power and facilitate industrial development. The Epiphany Cathedral, the governor's palace, a school of medicine, a museum,

12636-418: Was greatly influenced by Bergman's style. While The Sacrifice is about an apocalypse and impending death, faith, and possible redemption, in the making-of documentary Directed by Andrei Tarkovsky , in a particularly poignant scene, writer/director Michal Leszczylowski follows Tarkovsky on a walk as he expresses his sentiments on death—he claims himself to be immortal and has no fear of dying. Ironically, at

12753-744: Was held at the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral . He was buried on 3 January 1987 in the Russian Cemetery in Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois in France. The inscription on his gravestone, which was erected in 1994, was conceived by Tarkovsky's wife, Larisa, reads: To the man who saw the Angel . Larisa died in 1998 and is buried beside her husband. Beginning in the early 1990s, some in Russia have alleged that Tarkovsky did not die of natural causes, but

12870-416: Was like a miracle. Suddenly, I found myself standing at the door of a room the keys of which had until then, never been given to me. It was a room I had always wanted to enter and where he was moving freely and fully at ease. I felt encountered and stimulated: someone was expressing what I had always wanted to say without knowing how. Tarkovsky is for me the greatest, the one who invented a new language, true to

12987-601: Was low and most films were directed by veteran directors. After 1953, more films were produced, many of them by young directors. The Khrushchev Thaw relaxed Soviet social restrictions a bit and permitted a limited influx of European and North American literature, films and music. This allowed Tarkovsky to see films of the Italian neorealists , French New Wave , and of directors such as Kurosawa , Buñuel , Bergman , Bresson , Wajda (whose film Ashes and Diamonds influenced Tarkovsky) and Mizoguchi . Tarkovsky's teacher and mentor

13104-556: Was making another film, Anka . This project embroiled him in a dispute with the deputy head of Mosfilm, Yelena Sokolovskaya, and was never completed. He then accepted a commission to make The Thirteen , a Soviet version of the 1934 American film The Lost Patrol , directed by John Ford . Romm's version was shot in the desert in Turkmenistan . After the release of The Thirteen in May 1937, Romm returned to work on The Queen of Spades. but

13221-582: Was ordered by the head of the film industry, Boris Shumyatsky to break off and make Lenin in October , which he was required to finish in four months, in time for the 20th anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution. While he was working on the screen play, which coincided with the Great Purge , he stayed in the Moscow flat of an assistant director of Mosfilm, Albert Slivkin. On 3 August, uniformed NKVD officers raided

13338-404: Was presented at the Cannes Film Festival , won the Grand Prix Spécial du Jury , and was nominated for the Palme d'Or . From 1973 to 1974, he shot the film Mirror , a highly autobiographical and unconventionally structured film drawing on his childhood and incorporating some of his father's poems. In this film Tarkovsky portrayed the plight of childhood affected by war. Tarkovsky had worked on

13455-499: Was reported that armed Russian OMON (Special Purpose Mobile Unit of the Russian National Guard) officers physically assaulted and tortured two Jehovah’s Witness couples as part of a round up of Jehovah’s Witnesses in the city. Irkutsk is located about 850 kilometres (530 mi) to the south-east of Krasnoyarsk , and about 520 kilometres (320 mi) north of Ulaanbaatar , the capital of Mongolia . The city proper lies on

13572-644: Was still in the Soviet Union and not allowed to leave the country. On 28 August 1985, Tarkovsky was processed as a Soviet Defector at a refugee camp in Latina , Italy, registered with the serial number 13225/379, and officially welcomed to the West. Tarkovsky spent most of 1984 preparing the film The Sacrifice . It was finally shot in 1985 in Sweden, with many of the crew being alumni from Ingmar Bergman 's films, including cinematographer Sven Nykvist . Tarkovsky's vision of his film

13689-562: Was the Governor-General. He annexed the Amur Territory to Russia, however, on the spot he showed unbridled despotism and extreme cruelty. Since the opening of communication along the Amur in 1854, on the way from St. Petersburg to the Pacific Ocean, the old Yakutsk tract began to decline. The population of the city is 28,000, of them there were 3,768 exiles. In 1879, on July 4 and 6,

#307692