Alexander Sokurov

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Lore & Background

Sokurov was born in Podorvikha, Irkutsky District, in Siberia, into a military officer's family. He graduated from the History Department of the Nizhny Novgorod University in 1974 and entered one of the VGIK studios the following year. There he became friends with Tarkovsky and was deeply influenced by his film Mirror. Most of Sokurov's early features were banned by Soviet authorities. His film Mournful Unconcern was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival in 1987. Mother and Son (1997) was his first internationally acclaimed feature film. It was entered into the 20th Moscow International Film Festival where it won the Special Silver St. George. Susan Sontag included two Sokurov features among her ten favorite films of the 1990s, saying: "There's no director active today whose films I admire as much." In 2006, he received the Master of Cinema Award of the International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg.

Reader's Guide

Sokurov has filmed a tetralogy exploring the corrupting effects of power. The first three installments were dedicated to prominent 20th-century rulers: Moloch (1999), about Hitler, Taurus (2001), about Lenin, and The Sun (2005) about Hirohito. In 2011, Sokurov shot the last part of the series, Faust, a retelling of Goethe's tragedy. The film won the Golden Lion at the 68th Venice International Film Festival. Russian Ark (2002) remains his most commercially and critically successful film, acclaimed primarily for its visually hypnotic images and single unedited shot. The military world of the former USSR is one of Sokurov's ongoing interests. Three of his works, Spiritual Voices: From the Diaries of a War, Confession, From the Commander's Diary and Soldier's Dream revolve around military life. In 1994 Sokurov accompanied Russian troops to a post on the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border, resulting in Spiritual Voices, a 327-minute cinematic meditation on the war and the spirit of the Russian army. In 2010 Sokurov launched his personal course at the Kabardino-Balkarian State University in Nalchik. In 2015, 12 students graduated from his course, including Kantemir Balagov, Vladimir Bitokov, Kira Kovalenko, and Alexander Zolotukhin. In 2022, Sokurov criticized the Kremlin and opposed the Russian invasion of Ukraine; in June 2022 he was denied the right to leave Russia. His film Fairytale was banned in Russia, with no specific reason given.

Did You Know?

• Sokurov's film Faust (2011) won the Golden Lion, the highest prize at the Venice Film Festival.
• Russian Ark (2002) was filmed in a single unedited shot.
• Sokurov was born in Podorvikha, Irkutsky District, in Siberia, into a military officer's family.
• In 1994, Sokurov accompanied Russian troops to a post on the Tajikistan-Afghanistan border, resulting in the 327-minute film Spiritual Voices: From the Diaries of a War.
• Sokurov's film Fairytale was banned in Russia with no specific reason given.

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