Igor Talankin

Dnevnye Zvyozdy (“The Stars of the Day”, 1966) was based on poetess Olga Berggolts’s autobiography. She was a difficult figure for the authorities: though she stayed in Leningrad during the siege making inspirational radio broadcasts, her more personal work was suppressed, even after her death. Suspended strangely between interior monologue, poetic recitation, exterior action and memory, it won an award at the Venice Film Festival. It also introduced Talankin to the actress Alla Demidova, who appeared in most of his subsequent films.Read More »

Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was perhaps the greatest Russian composer of all. This is a two-and-a-half-hour bio-pic telling of the last twenty years of his life, and of his friendship with Baroness Nadezhda von Meck (an outstanding woman of her time, who for many years was Tchaikovsky’s patroness).Read More »