Grigori Naumovich Chukhrai was a prominent Soviet
film directorA film director, or filmmaker is a person who directs the making or production of a film. Some also consider a film producer to be a filmmaker....
and
screenwriterScreenwriters or scenarists or scriptwriters are people in a film crew who write/create the screenplays from which films and television programs are made....
. He is the father of director
Pavel ChukhraiPavel Grigorovich Chukhrai is a Russian film director, son of Grigori Chukhrai. His most successful film to date was The Thief , nominated to the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and winning the Nika Award for Best Picture and Best Directing....
.
He was born in
MelitopolMelitopol is a city in the Zaporizhia Oblast of the southeastern Ukraine. It is situated on the Molochna River that flows through the eastern edge of the city and into the Molochnyi Liman, which eventually joins the Sea of Azov. The city was formerly named Kyzyl-Yar until 1816, and...
in the
Zaporizhia OblastZaporizhia Oblast is an oblast of southern Ukraine...
of
UkraineUkraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east; Belarus to the north; Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary to the west; Romania and Moldova to the southwest; and the Black Sea and Sea of Azov to the south. The city of Kiev is both the capital and the largest city of...
. A decorated veteran of
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Chukhrai's wartime experiences profoundly affected him and the majority of his films were connected with events of the War. At war's end, he studied filmmaking at the Soviet State Film School and then developed his craft as a director's assistant at the
KievKiev or Kyiv , is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300...
Film Studio. By the mid 1950s, he began writing and directing his own films, gaining cinematic recognition outside the Soviet Union at the 1957
Cannes Film FestivalThe Cannes Film Festival , founded in 1946, is one of the world's oldest and most prestigious film festivals. The private festival is held annually at the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, in the resort town of Cannes, in the south of France.The 62nd edition started 13 May and ended 24 May 2009...
with his film
Sorok pervyjThe Forty-First, is a 1956 Soviet film based on the novel of the same name by Boris Lavrenyev. The film was directed by Grigori Chukhrai and starred Izolda Izvitskaya and Oleg Strizhenov...
(The Forty-first).
In 1959, Chukhrai co-wrote and directed his greatest work,
Ballad of a SoldierBallad of a Soldier , is a Soviet film directed by Grigori Chukhrai and starring Vladimir Ivashov and Zhanna Prokhorenko. The film is set during World War II and shows how the Red Army soldier Alyosha tries to make it home during a leave, meeting several civilians on his way and falling in love...
. A story of love and the tragedy of war made without the usual Soviet propaganda, the film received great acclaim at home earning the prestigious
Lenin PrizeThe Lenin Prize was one of the most prestigious awards of the USSR, presented to individuals for accomplishments relating to science, literature, arts, architecture, and technology. It was created on June 23 1925 and was awarded until 1934. During the period from 1935 to 1956, the Lenin Prize was...
. It was heralded internationally for both its story and cinematic technique and at Cannes in 1960 the film was awarded a special jury prize for "high humanism and outstanding quality."
Ballad of a Soldier overcame the
Cold WarThe Cold War was the continuing state of political conflict, military tension, and economic competition existing after World War II , primarily between the USSR and its satellite states, and the powers of the Western world, including the United States...
barrier and premiered in the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1960 at the
San Francisco International Film FestivalThe San Francisco International Film Festival is the oldest continuously running film festival in the Americas. Organized by the San Francisco Film Society, the International is held each spring for two weeks, presenting an average of 150 films from over 50 countries...
in
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. The film won the Festival's Golden Gate Award, for Best Picture and for Best Director for Grigori Chukhrai. Playing worldwide, the following year it earned the
BAFTA Award for Best FilmThis page lists the Milo and nominees for the BAFTA Award for Best Film, BAFTA Award for Best Film not in the English Language and Alexander Korda Award for Best British Film for each year, in addition to the retired earlier versions of those awards...
. Grigori Chukhrai and script co-writer Valentin Yezhov were nominated for an Academy Award for Writing Original Screenplay.
Chukhrai's next film, released in 1961, was titled
Chistoye nebo (Clear Skies) and told the story of a Soviet pilot who survived
NaziNazism, known officially in German as National Socialism , is the totalitarian ideology and practices of the Nazi Party or National Socialist German Workers’ Party under Adolf Hitler, and the policies adopted by the dictatorial government of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945.Nazism is often considered...
imprisonment during the war but was later accused of being a spy. It was one of the first Soviet films to deal with some of the repressive and questionable antics under the Soviet leadership of premier
Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin was the General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee from 1922 until his death in 1953...
.
In 1984, at age 63, Grigori Chukhrai directed his final film. He wrote a book of war memoirs and in 1994, for his lifetime contribution to film, Chukhrai was given a
Nika AwardThe Nika Award is a prestigious annual ceremony held by the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts and Sciences which was established in 1987 in Moscow, Russia by Yuli Gusman, and ostensibly modelled on the Academy Awards . Russian Academy Award takes its name from Nike, the goddess of victory...
, the Russian film industry's equivalent of an
OscarThe Academy Awards, popularly known as the Oscars, are presented annually by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers. The formal ceremony at which the awards are presented is...
.
Grigori Chukhrai died of heart failure in Moscow in 2001 at the age of eighty.
Filmography
| Year |
English Title |
Original Title |
Notes |
|
| The Forty-first The Forty-First, is a 1956 Soviet film based on the novel of the same name by Boris Lavrenyev. The film was directed by Grigori Chukhrai and starred Izolda Izvitskaya and Oleg Strizhenov...
|
Сорок первый |
Director |
|
| Ballad of a Soldier Ballad of a Soldier , is a Soviet film directed by Grigori Chukhrai and starring Vladimir Ivashov and Zhanna Prokhorenko. The film is set during World War II and shows how the Red Army soldier Alyosha tries to make it home during a leave, meeting several civilians on his way and falling in love...
|
Баллада о солдате |
Director; screenwriter |
|
| Clear Skies |
Чистое небо |
Director |
|
| There Was an Old Couple There Was an Old Couple is a 1965 Soviet drama film directed by Grigori Chukhrai. It was entered into the 1965 Cannes Film Festival. -Cast:* Ivan Marin - The Old Man, Gusakov* Vera Kuznetsova - The Old Woman, Gusakova* Lyudmila Maksakova - Nina...
|
Жили-были старик со старухой |
Director |
|
| Memory |
Память |
Director; documentary |
|
| Untypical Story |
Трясина |
Director; screenwriter |
|
| Life Is Beautiful |
Жизнь прекрасна |
Director; screenwriter |
|
| I'll Teach You to Dream |
Я научу вас мечтать |
Co-director with Yuri Shvyryov; documentary |
External links