RUSSIA: Siberian-born Andrei Zvyagintsev makes his Cannes debut with his second film, "The Banishment"
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560397
RUSSIA: Siberian-born Andrei Zvyagintsev makes his Cannes debut with his second film, "The Banishment"
- Title: RUSSIA: Siberian-born Andrei Zvyagintsev makes his Cannes debut with his second film, "The Banishment"
- Date: 24th May 2007
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA(MAY 12, 2007) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE)(Russian) RUSSIAN FILM DIRECTOR Andrei ZVYAGINTSEV, SAYING: "The things which are touching me in the movies I am producing are universal they do not have an address or origin, the origin is the whole world culture and mythology, eden is the origin of this story" WIDE OF INTERVIEW (SOUNDBITE)(Russian) RUSSIAN FILM DIRECTOR ANDREI ZVYAGINTSEV, SAYING: "There is Mars or Mercury (planets) and America is similar, I want to say that all competition attempts or if we try to do the same films this would all be meaningless because film industry in America is hundred years old and it is an industry, I am not talking about independent movies, Jarmush and other people who think and bring messages to public, who are not producing pop corn style show. So we will never catch the same standards (as Hollywood movies) and there is no need for it, we need to create our own movies." RUSSIAN FILM DIRECTOR ANDREI ZVYAGINTSEV AND FILM PRODUCER DMITRY LESNEVSKY TALKING
- Embargoed: 8th June 2007 13:00
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- Reuters ID: LVADKTPLA9T6DVTLOZJE5GQFVKTS
- Story Text: Siberian-born Andrei Zvyagintsev -- whose first film, "The Return," picked up Venice's Golden Lion in 2003 -- makes his Cannes debut with his second film, "The Banishment." Russian director Andrei Zvyagintsev may have made his name thanks to two old European festivals but he refuses to define his style as European, preferring the label of "universal."
Zvyagintsev became an international sensation in 2003 when his debut film "The Return" won the top prize at Venice Film Festival and he is hoping to repeat that success at the Cannes festival which opened this week. Cannes Film Festival opened on Wednesday (May 16) with a mix of arthouse movie making and raw star power fitting for cinema's greatest showcase, which turns 60 this year.
Selectors chose two highly regarded Russian film makers -- Andrei Zvyagintsev ("The Banishment") and Alexander Sokurov, whose "Alexandra" is set in Chechnya. "The Banishment" ("Izgnanie") - a tale of a tragic relations of a man and a woman made more poignant by a real -life tragedy.
The movie was selected as one of 22 competition films.
Portraits of life in Iran, Romania, Ukraine, Austria, Mexico, Turkey and Israel also feature in what critics expect to be a vintage line-up.
A former actor, Andrei Zvyagintsev, said it was luck that brought him his break into directing in the 1990s when post-communist Russia's evolution into free market created a big demand for television advertising. He then directed three episodes of a television series before the head of independent television company RenTV asked him to direct a film.
Following his Venice success, some critics hailed Zvyagintsev as the new Andrey Tarkovsky, one of Soviet Russia's most influential film directors. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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