Stanislav Govorukhin
Encyclopedia
Stanislav Sergeyevich Govorukhin (born March 29, 1936 in Berezniki
, Perm Krai
, Russian SFSR) has been one of the most popular Soviet and Russia
n film director
s since the 1960s. His films, often featuring detective or adventure plots, are commonly dominated by strong male characters who seek to revenge criminal acts but have to eschew commonly accepted social norms in order to succeed.
Govorukhin was born in Berezniki
, Sverdlovsk Oblast
(now Perm Krai
) and started his career as a geologist
in 1958. He then joined a television studio in Kazan
and enrolled at the VGIK. During the Soviet period, Govorukhin became noted for his successful TV adaptations of adolescent classics, including Robinson Crusoe (1973), Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1981), In Search of the Castaways
(1983), and Desyat Negrityat
(an adaptation of Agatha Christie
's And Then There Were None
) in 1987.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092879/ He also directed two movies starring Vladimir Vysotsky
- Vertical (1967) and The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed
(1979), one of the cult film
s of the late Soviet era.
After the Perestroika
, Govorukhin abandoned cinema for politics. He became one of the leaders of the Democratic Party of Russia
. In 1990, he directed a much-publicised documentary highly critical of the Soviet society, entitled We Can't Live Like This. Although his feature films were previously ignored by the critical establishment, this film won him the Nika Award
for Best Director. It was at that time that Govorukhin released an extensive interview with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
.
Govorukhin has been a member of the State Duma
since its inauguration in 1993, running the Duma culture committee for some time. Following the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, he had abandoned his previous democratic anti-communist convictions and sided with the national-communist opposition. In 1996, he supported Gennady Zyuganov
against Boris Yeltsin
during the second round of the presidential election campaign. In 2000, he took part in Russian presidential elections
, but failed to be elected. At a Duma by-election in 2005, Govorukhin's opponent, the journalist and satirist Victor Shenderovich
, accused him of using illegal funds to guarantee his victory.
More recently, Govorukhin returned to the cinema, co-starring with Alisa Friendlich in the detective TV series Female Logic and releasing another revenge movie, The Rifleman of the Voroshilov Regiment
(with Mikhail Ulyanov
in the lead role).
In 2009 Stanislav Govorukhin started to shoot a movie by Ksenya Stepanycheva
script; the movie’s name is “Hearts of Four”.
Berezniki
Berezniki is a city in Perm Krai, Russia, situated on the banks of the Kama River, in the Ural mountains. Population: The name Berezniki is derived from a birch forest originally situated on the city's location....
, Perm Krai
Perm Krai
Perm Krai is a federal subject of Russia that came into existence on December 1, 2005 as a result of the 2004 referendum on the merger of Perm Oblast and Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug. The city of Perm became the administrative center of the new federal subject...
, Russian SFSR) has been one of the most popular Soviet and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
s since the 1960s. His films, often featuring detective or adventure plots, are commonly dominated by strong male characters who seek to revenge criminal acts but have to eschew commonly accepted social norms in order to succeed.
Govorukhin was born in Berezniki
Berezniki
Berezniki is a city in Perm Krai, Russia, situated on the banks of the Kama River, in the Ural mountains. Population: The name Berezniki is derived from a birch forest originally situated on the city's location....
, Sverdlovsk Oblast
Sverdlovsk Oblast
Sverdlovsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia located in the Urals Federal District. Its administrative center is the city of Yekaterinburg formerly known as Sverdlovsk. Population: -Geography:...
(now Perm Krai
Perm Krai
Perm Krai is a federal subject of Russia that came into existence on December 1, 2005 as a result of the 2004 referendum on the merger of Perm Oblast and Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug. The city of Perm became the administrative center of the new federal subject...
) and started his career as a geologist
Geologist
A geologist is a scientist who studies the solid and liquid matter that constitutes the Earth as well as the processes and history that has shaped it. Geologists usually engage in studying geology. Geologists, studying more of an applied science than a theoretical one, must approach Geology using...
in 1958. He then joined a television studio in Kazan
Kazan
Kazan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan, Russia. With a population of 1,143,546 , it is the eighth most populous city in Russia. Kazan lies at the confluence of the Volga and Kazanka Rivers in European Russia. In April 2009, the Russian Patent Office granted Kazan the...
and enrolled at the VGIK. During the Soviet period, Govorukhin became noted for his successful TV adaptations of adolescent classics, including Robinson Crusoe (1973), Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1981), In Search of the Castaways
In Search of the Castaways
In Search of the Castaways is a novel by the French writer Jules Verne, published in 1867–1868. The original edition, published by Hetzel, contains a number of illustrations by Édouard Riou. In 1876 it was republished by George Routledge & Sons as a three volume set titled "A Voyage Round The World"...
(1983), and Desyat Negrityat
Desyat Negrityat
Desyat Negrityat is a 1987 Soviet film adaptation of Agatha Christie's novel And Then There Were None . It was directed by Stanislav Govorukhin, who also penned the script...
(an adaptation of Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
's And Then There Were None
And Then There Were None
And Then There Were None is a detective fiction novel by Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club on 6 November 1939 under the title Ten Little Niggers which was changed by Dodd, Mead and Company in January 1940 because of the presence of a racial...
) in 1987.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092879/ He also directed two movies starring Vladimir Vysotsky
Vladimir Vysotsky
Vladimir Semyonovich Vysotsky was a Soviet singer, songwriter, poet, and actor whose career had an immense and enduring effect on Russian culture. He became widely known for his unique singing style and for his lyrics, which featured social and political commentary in often humorous street...
- Vertical (1967) and The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed
The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed
The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed is a 1979 Soviet 5-part television miniseries directed by Stanislav Govorukhin. It achieved the status of a cult film in the USSR, and along with Seventeen Moments of Spring it became a part of popular culture with several generations of russophone TV viewers...
(1979), one of the cult film
Cult film
A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a highly devoted but specific group of fans. Often, cult movies have failed to achieve fame outside the small fanbases; however, there have been exceptions that have managed to gain fame among mainstream audiences...
s of the late Soviet era.
After the Perestroika
Perestroika
Perestroika was a political movement within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during 1980s, widely associated with the Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev...
, Govorukhin abandoned cinema for politics. He became one of the leaders of the Democratic Party of Russia
Democratic Party of Russia
The Democratic Party of Russia or DPR is a former Russian political party that existed between 1990 and 2008. It was founded by Nikolai Travkin. It initially featured Stanislav Govorukhin and Sergey Glazyev, was a prominent democratically-oriented party, member of the Democratic Russia coalition,...
. In 1990, he directed a much-publicised documentary highly critical of the Soviet society, entitled We Can't Live Like This. Although his feature films were previously ignored by the critical establishment, this film won him the Nika Award
Nika Award
The Nika Award is a prestigious annual ceremony held by the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences which was established in 1987 in Moscow, Russia by Yuli Gusman, and ostensibly modelled on the Academy Awards . Russian Academy Award takes its name from Nike, the goddess of victory...
for Best Director. It was at that time that Govorukhin released an extensive interview with Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was aRussian and Soviet novelist, dramatist, and historian. Through his often-suppressed writings, he helped to raise global awareness of the Gulag, the Soviet Union's forced labor camp system – particularly in The Gulag Archipelago and One Day in the Life of...
.
Govorukhin has been a member of the State Duma
State Duma
The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...
since its inauguration in 1993, running the Duma culture committee for some time. Following the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis, he had abandoned his previous democratic anti-communist convictions and sided with the national-communist opposition. In 1996, he supported Gennady Zyuganov
Gennady Zyuganov
Gennady Andreyevich Zyuganov is a Russian politician, First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation , Chairman of the Union of Communist Parties - Communist Party of the Soviet Union , deputy of the State Duma , and a member of Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe...
against Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
during the second round of the presidential election campaign. In 2000, he took part in Russian presidential elections
Russian presidential election, 2000
Russian presidential elections were held on 26 March 2000. Incumbent Prime Minister, and acting President Vladimir Putin, who had succeeded Boris Yeltsin on his resignation December 31, 1999, was seeking a four-year term in his own right and won the elections in the first round. Polling stations...
, but failed to be elected. At a Duma by-election in 2005, Govorukhin's opponent, the journalist and satirist Victor Shenderovich
Victor Shenderovich
Victor Anatolievich Shenderovich is a popular Russian satirist, writer and scriptwriter. In 1980, Shenderovich graduated from the Moscow State Art and Cultural University, specialising in "direction of volunteer theatrical groups"...
, accused him of using illegal funds to guarantee his victory.
More recently, Govorukhin returned to the cinema, co-starring with Alisa Friendlich in the detective TV series Female Logic and releasing another revenge movie, The Rifleman of the Voroshilov Regiment
The Rifleman of the Voroshilov Regiment
The Rifleman of the Voroshilov Regiment is a 1999 Russian action and drama film directed by Stanislav Govorukhin based on the book Woman on Wednesdays by Viktor Pronin.-Plot:World War II veteran Ivan Afonin lives with his granddaughter Katya...
(with Mikhail Ulyanov
Mikhail Ulyanov
Mikhail Alexandrovich Ulyanov was a Soviet and Russian actor who was one of the most recognizable persons of the post-World War II Soviet theatre and cinema. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1969 and received a special prize from the Venice Film Festival in 1982.Mikhail Alexandrovich...
in the lead role).
In 2009 Stanislav Govorukhin started to shoot a movie by Ksenya Stepanycheva
Ksenya Stepanycheva
Ksenya Viktorovna Stepanycheva is a Russian playwright.Ksenya Stepanycheva was born in the city of Saratov on the 4th of November 1978, into the family of a military serviceman. She lived with her father in military garrisons in Germany, Ukraine and the subarctic region...
script; the movie’s name is “Hearts of Four”.