Budimir Metalnikov

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Budimir Metalnikov
Born
Budimir Alekseyevich Metalnikov

(1925-09-27)27 September 1925
Died1 September 2001(2001-09-01) (aged 75)
Moscow, Russia
Occupation(s)Film director, screenwriter
Years active1956–1993

Budimir Alekseyevich Metalnikov (Russian: Будимир Алексеевич Метальников; 27 September 1925 – 1 September 2001) was a Soviet and Russian film director and screenwriter.

Early years

Metalnikov was born in Moscow into an educated Russian family of chemical engineers.[1] His father Aleksei Petrovich Metalnikov came from peasants. He was working as the chief engineer at the Apatit enterprise when he was arrested in 1937. Budimir's mother Zinaida Georgiyevna Metalnikova was also arrested shortly after. The 12-year-old Budimir and his 3-year-old sister Marina were taken to the NKVD reception center for children of enemies of the people situated in the Danilov Monastery. The children were then separated and put into different orphanages; Metalnikov never managed to find his sister, despite all his attempts. In 1939 he was sent to Kirovohrad to study in one of the vocational schools to be an electrician. After a while he received a letter from his aunt along with some money and returned to Moscow where he continued studying.

In 1942 Metalnikov was enrolled to the Red Army. After some studying in the infantry school and serving in the airborne brigade he was sent to fight at the Karelian Front. He was heavily wounded during one of the battles and spent many months in hospitals. On October, 1944 he was sent home as war-disabled. On his return he entered an evening school, but soon left it to study screenwriting at VGIK under Yevgeny Gabrilovich and Ilya Vicefield. He graduated in 1954 and immediately started working in cinema.[1]

Career

His first success came with a movie

Mikhail Ulyanov and Vasily Shukshin. Mordyukova's character was partly inspired by her own personality and was written specially for her.[1]

1969 saw the release of the biographical film Tchaikovsky directed by Igor Talankin and co-written by Budimir Metalnikov and Yuri Nagibin. It featured Innokenty Smoktunovsky in the leading role of the famous Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. In 1972 the movie was nominated for two Oscars: Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and Academy Award for Best Scoring: Adaptation and Original Song Score.[4] It was also nominated for the 1971 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Between 1955 and 2001 Metalnikov wrote screenplays to 20 Soviet and Russian movies, including three movies directed by himself. He had been also working as an educator at High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors since 1966.[1]

He mainly specialized in social dramas and village dramas in particular. The themes featured in his screenplays were similar to the Village Prose movement, but usually with an emphasis on the relationships between people rather than collective farming and other problems of the Soviet countryside. His works are distinguished by their romantic tone and humor. A conflict between rural community and townspeople is also a running theme in many of his movies.

Among the other themes he explored was science fiction. In 1973 he directed The Silence of Dr. Evans, a drama about a contact between humans and an advanced alien society based on the original screenplay, with Sergei Bondarchuk in the leading role of Dr. Martin Evans. In this film Metalnikov focused on a number of philosophical topics, including moral values of the human society. In 1987 he co-wrote a screenplay for another science fiction movie The End of Eternity based on the novel of the same name by Isaac Asimov and directed by Andrei Yermash. The movie was noted for many stylistic similarities to Stalker by Andrei Tarkovsky, with the soundtrack also written by Eduard Artemyev.

Budimir Metalnikov died on September 1, 2001. He was buried at the Vagankovo Cemetery.[5]

Filmography

Year Title Original title
Director Screenwriter
1959 A Home for Tanya Отчий дом Green tickY
1960 Alyosha's Love Алёшкина любовь Green tickY
1960 A Simple Story Простая история Green tickY
1966 Women Женщины Green tickY
1967 The House and the Owner Дом и хозяин Green tickY Green tickY
1969 Tchaikovsky Чайковский Green tickY
1973 The Silence of Dr. Evans Молчание доктора Ивенса Green tickY Green tickY
1973 Of Those I Remember and Love О тех, кого помню и люблю Green tickY
1981 Three Times About Love Трижды о любви Green tickY
1986 Coasts in the Mist Берега в тумане Green tickY
1987 The End of Eternity Конец вечности Green tickY
2004 Salamandra's Skin Кожа саламандры Green tickY

Awards and honors

Literature

Budimir Metalnikov (2006). I Will Tell You ... Memoirs. — Moscow: Russkiy impuls, 464 pages.

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Pavel Sirkes. «True Nostalgia» interview with Budimir Metalnikov in the international culturological web magazine Foreign Backyard, №3/1, 2010 (in Russian)
  2. ^ Official Selection 1959 : All the Selection Archived 2013-12-26 at the Wayback Machine at the Cannes Film Festival official website
  3. Sergey Kudryavtsev, official LiveJournal
    page (in Russian)
  4. ^ The 44th Academy Awards (1972) Nominees and Winners at the official Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences website
  5. ^ Budimir Metalnikov's tomb at Wikimedia Commons

External links