Andrey Petrovich Zvyagintsev (russian: Андре́й Петро́вич Звя́гинцев, p=ˈzvʲæɡʲɪntsɨf; born 6 February 1964) is a Russian film director and screenwriter. His film ''

The Return The Return may refer to: Print media * ''Nostoi'' or ''Returns'', a lost poem in ancient Greek, thought to have been completed in the sixth or seventh century BC *The Return, a 1987 children book by Sonia Levitin * ''The Return'' (de la Mare n ...

'' (2003) won him a

Golden Lion The Golden Lion ( it, Leone d'oro) 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 now regarded as one of the film industry's most prestigious and distinguishe ...

at the

Venice Film Festival The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival he ...

. Following ''The Return'', Zvyagintsev directed ''

The Banishment ''The Banishment'' (russian: Изгнание, ''Izgnanie'') is a 2007 Russian psychological drama film directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev. The film is a loose adaptation of ''The Laughing Matter'', a 1953 novel by Armenian-American writer William Saro ...

'' and ''

Elena Elena may refer to: People * Elena (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name * Joan Ignasi Elena (born 1968), Catalan politician * Francine Elena (born 1986), British poet Geography * Elena (town), a town in Veliko ...

'' (2011). His film ''

Leviathan Leviathan (; he, לִוְיָתָן, ) is a sea serpent noted in theology and mythology. It is referenced in several books of the Hebrew Bible, including Psalms, the Book of Job, the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Amos, and, according to some ...

'' (2014) was nominated for the

Academy Award for Best International Feature Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

in 2014 and won the Best Film award at the

Asia Pacific Screen Awards The Asia Pacific Screen Awards (APSA) is an international cultural initiative overseen by the Asia Pacific Screen Academy and headquartered in Australia. In order to realise UNESCO's goals of promoting and preserving the different cultures th ...

. His most recent film ''

Loveless Loveless may refer to: Film and television * ''Loveless'' (film), a 2017 Russian film * ''The Loveless'', a 1982 film starring Willem Dafoe * Dr. Loveless, a character in ''The Wild Wild West'' TV series and film adaptation Literature * ''Love ...

'' won the

Jury Prize A jury is a sworn body of people (jurors) convened to hear evidence and render an impartial verdict (a finding of fact on a question) officially submitted to them by a court, or to set a penalty or judgment. Juries developed in England durin ...

at the

2017 Cannes Film Festival The 70th Cannes Film Festival took place from 17 to 28 May 2017, in Cannes, France. Spanish film director and screenwriter Pedro Almodóvar was the President of the Jury for the festival and Italian actress Monica Bellucci hosted the opening and ...

, and was among the nominees for Best International Feature Film at the

90th Academy Awards The 90th Academy Awards ceremony, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), honored the best films of 2017, and took place at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California. The ceremony was held on March 4, ...

. He also won the Achievement in Directing award for this film at the 2017 Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

Life and career

Zvyagintsev was born in

Novosibirsk Novosibirsk (, also ; rus, Новосиби́рск, p=nəvəsʲɪˈbʲirsk, a=ru-Новосибирск.ogg) is the largest city and administrative centre of Novosibirsk Oblast and Siberian Federal District in Russia. As of the Russian Census ...

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a part of ...

. At the age of 20 in 1984, he graduated from the theater school in Novosibirsk as an actor. Since 1986, he has lived in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

where he continued his studies at the

Russian Institute of Theatre Arts The Russian Institute of Theatre Arts (GITIS) (russian: Российский институт театрального искусства – ГИТИС) is the largest and oldest independent theatrical arts school in Russia. Located in Moscow, ...

until 1990. From 1992 to 2000, he worked as an actor for film and theater. In 2000, he began to work for the TV station

REN TV REN TV (russian: РЕН ТВ) is a Russian free-to-air television network, was founded on 1 January 1997 by Irena Lesnevskaya and her son, Dmitry Lesnevsky, who had been running REN TV as a production house for other national Russian television ...

and directed three episodes of the television series ''The Black Room''. He directed his first feature film ''

'' (2003), which received several awards, including a

at the

. His second feature film ''

'' (2007) premiered at its year's Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for a

Palme d'Or The Palme d'Or (; en, Golden Palm) is the highest prize awarded at the Cannes Film Festival. It was introduced in 1955 by the festival's organizing committee. Previously, from 1939 to 1954, the festival's highest prize was the Grand Prix du Fe ...

. This was followed by "Apocrypha" (2008), a short segment for the film ''

New York, I Love You ''New York, I Love You'' is a 2008 American romantic comedy-drama anthology film consisting of eleven short films, each by a different director. The shorts all relate in some way to the subject of love, and are set among the five boroughs of New ...

''. The segment was eventually cut from the film's theatrical release but is included on the DVD. ''

'' (2011), again premiered at Cannes, in the

Un Certain Regard (, meaning 'a certain glance') is a section of the Cannes Film Festival's official selection. It is run at the Debussy, parallel to the competition for the . This section was introduced in 1978 by Gilles Jacob. The section presents 20 films w ...

section, receiving the festival's Jury Prize. ''

'' (2014) was selected to compete for the

in the main competition section for its year at Cannes, where Zvyagintsev and Oleg Negin won the award for

Best Screenplay Best or The Best may refer to: People * Best (surname), people with the surname Best * Best (footballer, born 1968), retired Portuguese footballer Companies and organizations * Best & Co., an 1879–1971 clothing chain * Best Lock Corporatio ...

for the film. ''Leviathan'' won the

Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a Golden Globe Award presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Until 1986, it was known as the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Film, meaning that any non-American film coul ...

and was nominated for the

. It also won the award for Best Film at the

8th Asia Pacific Screen Awards The 8th Asia Pacific Screen Awards were held in Brisbane, Australia on 11 December 2014. Awards Films and countries with multiple nominations References Asia Pacific Screen Awards Asia Pacific Screen Awards Asia Pacific Scre ...

. In 2015, Zvyagintsev was a jury president of the 18th Shanghai International Film Festival. His most recent film, ''

'' (2017), won the

at Cannes in May 2017. It later won the Best Film at the 2017 London Film Festival, making him the second director to have won the award twice, having previously been honored for ''Leviathan''. In November 2017, the film won three awards at

the Golden Unicorn Awards The Golden Unicorn Awards are a set of awards for artistic excellence in film which recognises achievements of Russian cinematography and international film-makers creating Russian-themed films. The awards were established by Filip Perkon in 2016 in ...

in London: Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actress. ''Loveless'' was also nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Academy Award for Best International Feature Film. Zvyagintsev won the Achievement in Directing award at the 11th

for ''Loveless''. In March 2018, ''Loveless'' won the

César Award Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol * ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt * César Award, a French film award Places * Cesar, Portugal * C ...

for

Best Foreign Film The Academy Award for Best International Feature Film (known as Best Foreign Language Film prior to 2020) is one of the Academy Awards handed out annually by the U.S.-based Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). It is given to a ...

, making Zvyagintsev the first Russian director to have won this award. In 2018, Zvyagintsev was a jury member of the

Cannes Film Festival The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...

Personal life

Andrei Zvyantsev's first wife was actress Irina Grinyova. They lived together for 6 years, afterwards they divorced. His second wife is Anna Matveeva, film editor. They have a son, Pyotr (born 2009).

Illness

On June 25, 2021 Zvyagintsev received the

Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine Sputnik V (russian: Спутник V, the brand name from RDIF) or Gam-COVID-Vac (russian: Гам-КОВИД-Вак, the name under which it is legally registered and produced) is an adenovirus viral vector vaccine for COVID-19 developed by t ...

. On the 3rd day after vaccination, he had a fever of 38-39°C and was taken to the hospital. On July 8, he was admitted to intensive care. During his treatment in the hospital, he contracted

sepsis Sepsis, formerly known as septicemia (septicaemia in British English) or blood poisoning, is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body's response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs. This initial stage is follo ...

as a result of contracting a nosocomial infection resistant to antibiotics. He subsequently developed

polyneuropathy Polyneuropathy ( poly- + neuro- + -pathy) is damage or disease affecting peripheral nerves (peripheral neuropathy) in roughly the same areas on both sides of the body, featuring weakness, numbness, and burning pain. It usually begins in the hand ...

after he was put into an artificial coma in Germany, the result of which causing him to lose the ability to walk. For a long time he could neither sit nor speak, and there were problems with the movement of his hands. In the hospital, his throat ligaments were injured. As of May 2022, he is still undergoing treatment at a hospital in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Filmography

* ''The Black Room'' (TV series, 2000) * ''

'' (2003) * ''

'' (2007) * ''

'' ("Apocrypha" segment, 2009) – segment cut from theatrical release * ''

Experiment 5IVE An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

'' ("Mystery" segment, 2011) * ''

'' (2011) * ''

'' (2014) * ''

'' (2017)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zvyagintsev, Andrey 1964 births Living people People from Novosibirsk Academicians of the National Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Russia Russian Academy of Theatre Arts alumni Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay winners César Award winners Directors of Golden Lion winners European Film Awards winners (people) Recipients of the Nika Award Male screenwriters Russian film directors Russian male writers Russian screenwriters Russian activists against the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine Asia Pacific Screen Award winners