Andrey Zvyagintsev

Andrey Petrovich Zvyagintsev (genus. Winner of the main prize of the Venice, and laureate of the Cannes Film Festivals. Two-time Oscar nominee in the category "Best Foreign Language Film" for the films "Leviathan" and "Dislike".

There are many interesting facts in the biography of Zvyagintsev, which we will talk about in this article.

So, before you is a short biography of Andrei Zvyagintsev.

Biography of Zvyagintsev

Andrei Zvyagintsev was born on February 6, 1964 in Novosibirsk. He grew up and was brought up in a simple family that has nothing to do with cinema.

The director's father, Pyotr Aleksandrovich, was a policeman, and his mother worked as a school teacher of Russian language and literature.

Childhood and youth

When Andrei was barely 5 years old, his father decided to leave the family for another woman.

For the boy, this event was the first tragedy in his biography. When Zvyagintsev grows up, he will never be able to forgive his father.

The future director showed his love for theatrical art even in his school years. As a result, after receiving a certificate, he entered the local drama school, which he graduated in 1984.

Becoming a certified actor, Andrei Zvyagintsev got a job at the Novosibirsk Youth Theater. He also starred in films at the time.

Andrei was entrusted with the main roles in the films "Nobody Believes" and "Accelerates".

Soon the guy received a summons to the army, where he served as an entertainer in a military ensemble. Thanks to this, he was able to continue performing on stage.

After demobilization, Zvyagintsev decided to enter GITIS, which is why he moved to Moscow. After 4 years he received a diploma, but refused to work in the theater.

According to him, at that time the theater produced a “product for the audience”, which was far from real art.

Directing

In the early 90s, Andrei played minor characters in serials, and also starred in commercials.

At the same time, Zvyagintsev tried to write stories, but he could not achieve success in this area. Soon he became seriously interested in cinema, starting to revise retrospectives of famous directors.

An interesting fact is that until 1993 a man had to work as a janitor in order to be able to live in a service room.

After that, Andrei played in several performances, and also continued to play episodic characters in feature films.

In 2000, an important event took place in the biography of Andrei Zvyagintsev. He managed to realize himself for the first time as a director by filming 2 short films - "Obscure" and "Choice".

Three years later, the premiere of the drama "Return" took place, which received a lot of positive reviews from the audience, but not so much from film critics. The film won 2 Nika film awards, 2 Golden Lions and 2 Golden Eagles.

It is worth noting that with a budget of $ 400,000, The Return movie grossed over $ 4.4 million at the box office! Moreover, the film was nominated for an international Oscar and launched in more than 30 countries.

Ultimately, the drama became a sensation in the world of cinema, receiving 28 prestigious awards. It is curious that the work of the Russian director was appreciated by viewers from 73 countries of the world.

In 2007, Andrei Zvyagintsev directed the psychological drama "The Banishment", based on William Saroyan's story "Something Funny. Serious story. "

The film represented Russia at the main competition of the 60th Cannes Film Festival, as a result of which Konstantin Lavronenko received the prize for Best Actor. In addition, the tape won the prize of the Federation of Russian Film Clubs at the 2007 Moscow Film Festival.

In 2011, another work by Zvyagintsev called "Elena" was released on the big screen. It was presented in Cannes, where the director was awarded a special "Unusual Look" prize.

In addition, the film "Elena" was the best at the Golden Eagle awards ceremony. Also, the tape was awarded "Niki".

In 2014, another significant event took place in the biography of Andrei Zvyagintsev. His new drama "Leviathan" has gained immense popularity and recognition all over the world.

It was after the premiere of this film that the name of the director gained particular fame. The tape was a film interpretation of the story of the biblical character Job, which is described in detail in the Old Testament.

In 2015, Leviathan became the first film in the history of post-Soviet Russia to receive the Golden Globe Award in the Best Foreign Language Film category.

In addition, the film was nominated for an Oscar in the category "Best Foreign Language Film" and for a BAFTA in the category "Best Non-English Film".

Despite the immense popularity, Zvyagintsev's work caused a storm of indignation from the leadership of the Russian Federation and Orthodox clergy. They did not want to release the film, which, according to the director, spoke of its success.

In 2017, Andrei Zvyagintsev directed the next drama Dislike. It presented a biography of a boy who turned out to be unnecessary to his parents.

The tape received the Jury Prize at the 70th Kansk Film Festival, and was also nominated for Golden Globe, Oscar and BAFTA.

Personal life

Zvyagintsev's first woman was actress Vera Sergeeva, with whom he lived in a civil marriage. The young people met at the Old House Theater.

Soon, the couple had twins, one of whom died a week after birth. The second, Nikita, now lives in Novosibirsk. He is a businessman, continuing to maintain a good relationship with his father.

After that, Andrei began to look after a fellow student at the university named Inna. In 1988, the young people decided to get married. Over time, this marriage broke up, as the girl went to another man.

Then Zvyagintsev became interested in the model Inna Gomez, with whom he collaborated during the filming of the "Black Room" project. However, their relationship was short-lived.

Later, the director married the actress Irina Grineva, with whom he lived for 6 years.

The next wife of Andrei Zvyagintsev was the editor Anna Matveeva. In this union, the couple had a boy, Peter.

Initially, a complete idyll reigned in the family, but later the spouses began to conflict more and more often. As a result, in 2018 Andrey and Anna broke up. The son Peter stayed with his mother.