Aleksei Yuryevich German
{{Short description|Russian film director and screenwriter}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Aleksei Yuryevich German
| image = Aleksei Yuryevich German.jpg
| birth_name = Aleksei Yuryevich German
| birth_date = 20 July 1938
| birth_place = Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
{{smaller|(present day St. Petersburg, Russia)}}
| death_date = {{death date and age |2013|2|21 |1938|7|20 |df=yes}}
| death_place = St. Petersburg, Russia
| nationality = Russian
| occupation = {{hlist|Film director|screenwriter|}}
| spouse = Svetlana Karmalita
| children = Aleksei German Jr.
}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
Aleksei Yuryevich GermanHis surname is sometimes transliterated Guerman or Gherman to indicate that the Latin script {{angle bracket|g}} is "hard". ({{lang-rus|Алексей Юрьевич Герман|p=ɐlʲɪkˈsʲej ˈjʉrʲjɪvʲɪdʑ ˈɡʲermən}}; 20 July 1938{{spaced ndash}}21 February 2013){{cite web|title=Legendary Soviet Filmmaker Dies at 74|url=http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/legendary-soviet-filmmaker-dies-at-74/475893.html|publisher=The Moscow Times|accessdate=23 February 2013|date=21 February 2013}} was a Russian film director and screenwriter.{{cite book|title=The Imperial Trace - Recent Russian Cinema|pages=185–216|chapter=Aleksei German: Forensics in the Dynastic Capital|author=Nancy Condee|publisher=Oxford University Press|place=New York|isbn=978-0190451226|year=2009}} In a career spanning five decades of filmmaking, German completed six feature films, noted for his stark pessimism, long, serpentine sequence shots, black and white cinematography, overbearing sound design and acute observations of Stalinist Russia.
Biography
German was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg, Russia) in 1938; his father was the writer Yuri German.{{cite news|last=Bergan|first=Ronald|title=Aleksei German obituary|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/feb/26/aleksei-german|accessdate=18 March 2013|newspaper=The Guardian (UK)|date=26 February 2013}} He studied under Grigori Kozintsev until 1960, and then moved on to working in theatre before joining the Lenfilm studio as an assistant director. He made his directing debut with Sedmoy Sputnik, co-directed with Grigori Aronov in 1967.
Over the course of his career, many of his projects met with production difficulties or official opposition; in 50 years, he managed to complete just six feature films, his final film being the science fiction film Hard to Be a God, completed by his son, Alexei German after his death,{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/aug/06/hard-to-be-a-god-review-mud-blood-and-holy-hell |title=Hard to Be a God review – mud, blood and holy hell |last=Bradshaw |first=Peter |date=2015-08-06 |website=The Guardian |language=en-GB |access-date=2019-11-02}} debuted at the Rome Film Festival in 2013.
Trial on the Road (1971) is the film that made Alexei German famous. It was banned for fifteen years and was shelved by the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union until its release (1986) during the Gorbachev era.
In 1987, at the Rotterdam International Film Festival (Netherlands), Alexei German, as a director, received a KNF Award for his three films, Trial on the Road, Twenty Days Without War, and My Friend Ivan Lapshin.
German was married to the screenwriter Svetlana Karmalita;{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gM6QDAAAQBAJ&dq=Svetlana%2520Karmalita%2520married&pg=PA273 |title=Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema |last=Rollberg |first=Peter |date=2016-07-20 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=9781442268425 |language=en}} they had a son, Aleksei Alekseivich German, who is also a film director.{{Cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2013/feb/26/aleksei-german |title=Aleksei German obituary |last=Bergan |first=Ronald |date=2013-02-26 |website=The Guardian |language=en-GB |access-date=2019-11-02}} German died of heart failure 21 February 2013.{{Cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/movies/aleksei-german-russian-film-director-dies-at-74.html |title=Aleksei German, Director of Anti-Soviet Movies, Dies at 74 |last=Kishkovsky |first=Sophia |date=2013-02-23 |website=The New York Times |language=en-US |access-date=2019-11-02}}
Style
Most of German's films are set during the Joseph Stalin era and the Second World War, and they depict the time period in a critical light. His films, shot mostly in black and white or very muted color, have a distinctive "murky" look and are often described as looking "aged." He was known for his obstinacy as a director, for featuring protagonists who could be categorized neither as heroes nor antiheroes, and for casting actors against type.Dolin, Anton (March/April 2012) [http://www.filmcomment.com/article/the-strange-case-of-russian-maverick-aleksei-german No Surrender]. filmcomment.com
Filmography
- 1967 – The Seventh Companion
- 1976 – Twenty Days Without War
- 1984 – My Friend Ivan Lapshin
- 1986 – Trial on the Road (produced in 1971)
- 1998 – Khrustalyov, My Car!
- 2013 – Hard to Be a God (original title History of the Arkanar Massacre)
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|0314516}}
- [http://www.filmlinc.com/films/series/war-and-remembrance-the-films-of-aleksei-german War and Remembrance: The Films of Aleksei Guerman]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120511123759/http://www.filmlinc.com/film-comment/article/the-strange-case-of-russian-maverick-aleksei-german The Strange Case of Russian Maverick Aleksei German], by Anton Dolin
- [https://newleftreview.org/II/7/tony-wood-time-unfrozen-the-films-of-aleksei-german "Time Unfrozen: The Films of Aleksei German,"] New Left Review 7, Jan.-Feb. 2001. by Tony Wood
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20120329082531/http://www.filmlinc.com/film-comment/article/exorcism-aleksei-german-among-the-long-shadows Exorcism: Aleksei German Among the Long Shadows], by J. Hoberman
- [http://alsolikelife.com/shooting/2009/05/970-112-moy-drug-ivan-lapshin-my-friend-ivan-lapshin-1983-aleksei-german Shooting Down Pictures article] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100330154637/http://alsolikelife.com/shooting/2009/05/970-112-moy-drug-ivan-lapshin-my-friend-ivan-lapshin-1983-aleksei-german/ |date=30 March 2010 }}
{{Aleksei Yuryevich German}}
{{Nika Award for Best Director}}
{{Nika Lifetime Achievement Award}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:German}}
Category:Mass media people from Saint Petersburg
Category:Russian film directors
Category:Soviet film directors
Category:Recipients of the USSR State Prize
Category:Recipients of the Nika Award
Category:Burials at Bogoslovskoe Cemetery
Category:20th-century Russian screenwriters
Category:Russian male screenwriters