Vadim Abdrashitov

{{Infobox person

| name = Vadim Abdrashitov

| image = Abdrashitov VYu.jpg

| caption = Abdrashitov in 2012

| native_name = Вадим Абдрашитов

| native_name_lang = ru

| birth_date = {{birth date|1945|01|19|df=y}}

| birth_place = Kharkov, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union

| death_date = {{death date and age|2023|2|12|1945|01|19|df=y}}

| death_place = Moscow, Russia

| resting_place = Troyekurovskoye Cemetery

| occupation = Film director

| employer = High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors

}}

Vadim Yusupovich Abdrashitov ({{langx|ru|Вадим Юсупович Абдрашитов}}, {{langx|tt-Cyrl|Вадим Йосыф улы Габдерәшитов}}; 19 January 1945 – 12 February 2023) was a Russian film director. He was internationally renowned as one of Russian cinema's most notable independent directors, with awards from the Berlin and Venice Film Festivals, and was a People's Artist of Russia.

Early life and education

Abdrashitov was born in Ukraine to a Tatar father and a Russian mother. He moved all over the Soviet Union with his father's military assignments.

Abdrashitov was so impressed with the space flight of the first Russian cosmonaut that he left his parents and moved to Moscow to study nuclear physics at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.[https://ria.ru/20230212/abdrashitov-1851575825.html Скончался режиссёр Вадим Абдрашитов] 12 February[https://aif.ru/culture/person/prichinoy_smerti_rezhissera_abdrashitova_stali_posledstviya_koronavirusa Причиной смерти режиссера Абдрашитова стали последствия коронавируса] 12 February Around that time, he developed an interest in amateur filmmaking, and transferred to the Мendeleev University of Chemical Technology because it was equipped with a film studio for students. His cultural and artistic interests developed during the "Thaw".

After graduation as an engineer, he worked as a manager at the Moscow Electric-Vacuum Industry, which was making colour TV tubes.{{cite book |title=Before the fall: Soviet cinema in the Gorbachev years |last=Lawton |first=Anna |page=53 |year=2007 |publisher=New Academia Publishing |isbn=978-0-9744934-0-4 }}

From 1970 to 1974, Abdrashitov studied film directing at the Moscow Institute of Cinematography (Gerasimov Institute).{{Cite web |url=http://www.1000kzn.ru/article/ru/4454/66/ |title=У "Золотого Минбара" появился председатель |accessdate=2007-10-06 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111101456/http://www.1000kzn.ru/article/ru/4454/66/ |archivedate=2014-11-11}}

Career

File:Film Festival Stalker — 2015.3.jpg, 15 December 2015]]

Abdrashitov's directorial debut was Stop Potapov! (1974), a satirical comedy based on the screenplay by Grigori Gorin. In 1975 Abdrashitov met with then unknown writer Aleksandr Mindadze, beginning a collaboration that lasted for the next 12 films over 30 years.{{IMDb name| 0008244|Vadim Abdrashitov}}

His 1997 film Time of a Dancer was shown in the Stalker Human Rights Film Festival's regional presentation in Rostov-on-Don in 2010, where he engaged in discussion with the audience.{{cite web | title=Rostov to hold charitable action of International Film Festival Stalker | website=Caucasian Knot | date=18 February 2010 | url=https://www.eng.kavkaz-uzel.eu/articles/12535/ | access-date=4 September 2022}}

Themes and style

Abdrashitov's films are often characterized by protagonists delving into self-exploration. His films have uncomfortable, challenging and intellectual themes; however, the director avoids depiction of graphic violence in all his films. Instead, misery is alluded to in more creative and at times surrealist ways.{{Cite book| title=Historical dictionary of Russian and Soviet cinema|last=P.|first=Rollberg|year = 2016|isbn=9781442268418|edition= Second| location=Lanham, Maryland| oclc=936205531}}

Other roles

In 1990, he was a member of the jury at the 40th Berlin International Film Festival.{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1990/04_jury_1990/04_Jury_1990.html |title=Berlinale: 1990 Juries |access-date=2011-03-14 |work=berlinale.de}}

In 2016, he became a member of the board of trustees for the Fazil Iskander International Literary Award.{{Cite web |url = https://penrus.ru/2022/04/05/polozhenie-o-mezhdunarodnoj-premii-imeni-fazilya-iskandera/ |title = Jury |language=ru |script-title = ru:Жюри |trans-title = Jury |date = 5 April 2022|website = Fazil Iskander International Literary Award (Iskander Prize) |access-date = April 5, 2022 }}

Abdrashitov also acted as the president of the Russian Guild of Film Directors and the Stalker Human Rights Film Festival.{{cite web | title=О фестивале | website=Международный фестиваль фильмов о правах человека «Сталкер» (Stalker Film Festival)| url=http://www.stalkerfest.org/o-festivale | language=ru | access-date=4 September 2022}}{{cite web | title=The Jury Prize of the Stalker Festival was awarded to a film about Major Izmailov | website=247 News Bulletin | date=17 December 2021 | url=https://247newsbulletin.com/entertainment/55278.html | access-date=4 September 2022}}

Personal life and death

Abdrashitov was married to artist Natella Toidze, a member of the Russian Academy of Arts.{{cite web|url=http://izvmor.ru/news/view/11379|title=Нателла Тоидзе: Мою творческую судьбу предопределил мордовский скульптор Эрьзя|date=12 May 2012|publisher=Известия Мордовии|access-date=2014-05-27}}

Abdrashitov died on 12 February 2023, at the age of 78, from COVID-19, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Russia.{{cite web | url=https://aif.ru/culture/person/prichinoy_smerti_rezhissera_abdrashitova_stali_posledstviya_koronavirusa | title=Причиной смерти режиссера Абдрашитова стали последствия коронавируса | date=12 February 2023 }}{{cite web|url=https://ria.ru/20230212/abdrashitov-1851575825.html|title=Умер режиссёр Вадим Абдрашитов|date=12 February 2023}}

Awards and honours

People's Artist of Russia
1987: President of the Italian Senate's gold medal at the 44th edition of the Venice Film Festival, for Plumbum, or The Dangerous Game{{cite book|last=British Film Institute|title=BFI Film and Television Yearbook|publisher=Concert Publications|date= 1988}}
1989: Alfred Bauer Prize at the 39th Berlin International Film Festival, for The Servant{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1989/03_preistr_ger_1989/03_Preistraeger_1989.html |title=Berlinale: 1989 Prize Winners |access-date=2011-03-13 |work=berlinale.de}}
1991: USSR State Prize, for The Servant
1995: Silver Bear at the 45th Berlin International Film Festival, for A Play for a Passenger{{cite web |url=http://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1995/03_preistr_ger_1995/03_Preistraeger_1995.html |title=Berlinale: 1995 Prize Winners |access-date=2011-12-31 |work=berlinale.de}}
1996: Several Nika Awards as well as the Grand Prix at Kinotavr, for Time of a Dancer{{cite book|title=The BFI Companion to Eastern European and Russian Cinema| page=1935|author1=Richard Taylor|author2= Nancy Wood| author3= Julian Graffy| author4= Dina Iordanova |publisher=Bloomsbury| isbn=978-1838718497| date=2019}}
2003: Nika Award, Best Director for Magnetic Storms