Marlen Khutsiyev

Marlen Khutsiyev

Born: October 4, 1925
Died: March 19, 2019
in Tiflis, Georgian SSR, Transcaucasian SFSR, USSR
Marlen Martynovich Khutsiev (Russian: Марле́н Марты́нович Хуци́ев; 4 October 1925 – 19 March 2019) was a Georgian-born Soviet and Russian filmmaker best known for his cult films from the 1960s, which include I Am Twenty and July Rain. He was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1986.

Khutsiev studied film in the directing department at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), graduating in 1952. He worked as a director at the Odessa film studio from 1952 to 1958, and worked full-time as a director at Mosfilm from 1965 onward.

Khutsiev's first feature film, Spring on Zarechnaya Street (1956), encapsulated the mood of the Khrushchev Thaw and went on to become one of the top box-office draws of the 1950s. Three years later, Khutsiev launched Vasily Shukshin "as a new kind of popular hero" by starring him in Two Fyodors. His two masterpieces of the 1960s, however, were panned by the authorities, forcing Khutsiev into something of an artistic silence. In 1978, Khutsiev began teaching film directing master classes at the VGIK.)

His 1991 film Infinitas won the Alfred Bauer Prize at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival.

Movies for Marlen Khutsiyev...

Cinematic Language of the Era: Marlen Khutsiev
Title: Cinematic Language of the Era: Marlen Khutsiev
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 2023
Type: Movie
The documentary film "Cinematic Language of the Era: Marlen Khutsiev" is timed to coincide with the upcoming centenary of the master. In our film, talking about the life, work and dreams of Marlen Khutsiev, we focus the viewer's attention on the master's unique film language. And through cinematic language we reveal the director's personality.
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A Georgian Toast
Title: A Georgian Toast
Character: Self
Released: October 1, 2020
Type: Movie
During the filming of the documentary film “The Gift”, Giuliano Fratini meets the master Marlen Khutsiev, who agrees to speak about Tarkovsky. But before being asked any questions, as a sign of thanks to his Italian guests, he wants to talk about Italy and in particular about Fellini, about the friendship they forged at the Moscow Festival in 1963. Back then the Italian master asked to meet him, the little Georgian who had problems with the regime. This small film is a tribute to the Italian genius but also to the Georgian master.
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Khutsiev. Action Starts!
Title: Khutsiev. Action Starts!
Released: April 21, 2019
Type: Movie
In Осtober, 2015, Marlen Khutsiev was to turn 90. The master had no intention of retiring, he was working at the new movie, which he had been contemplating for years. The crew was lucky to be allowed on the set of this film about the relationship of two Titans of Russian literature, Leo Tolstoy and Anton Chekhov. The shooting process, recorded over the period of many days, constitutes the main part of this documentary entitled «Khutsiev. Action Starts!». It also includes Khutsiev’s reflections on the nature of creative work and his dramatic creative biography.
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The Gift
Title: The Gift
Character: Self
Released: April 10, 2019
Type: Movie
After the release of "Nostalgia", Andrei Tarkovsky runs out his Soviet authorities permission to work abroad: he has to go back home. But he understands from the messages of some friends and colleagues that his life in Russia would be even tougher than before. So he then decides to break with Soviet authorities and, a year before the Milan Conference of 1984 during which he will announce publicly his decision, he leaves his friends that are hosting him in Rome and takes refuge in a secret location.
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Into_nation of Big Odessa
Title: Into_nation of Big Odessa
Character: Himself / Narrator
Released: April 23, 2018
Type: Movie
In the world, there is a city-port Odessa, which was specially created as a refuge for people of different nationalities and religions. Humor is a special language that helps people from Odessa to communicate and get along with each other. Legends are spreading about Odessa's humor and accent. But - a paradox - people are constantly leaving it. It is loved, but it is left as a child leaves his mother. On the example of this city and its inhabitants, we wanted to understand - why people flee from their cities. We tried to find the answer taking pictures of Odessa citizens in Germany, Israel, Ukraine, Russia, Austria, France and other places. Michael Zhvanetskij, Roman Kartsev, Leonid Barats and Rostislav Khait Victor Loshak,  Oksana Fandera, Valerij Todotovskij, Mikhail and Anatoly Kontush and many others are telling their stories and giving their opinions on what is the phenomenon of the city by the Black Sea.
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Abderrahmane Sissako: Beyond Territories
Title: Abderrahmane Sissako: Beyond Territories
Character: Self
Released: January 1, 2017
Type: Movie
To be somewhere precise yet stand nowhere at all, to embody one’s convictions, yet never miss the essential, to rise up and be present at the critical moment, to bear witness to a world waiting to tell itself and be retold, to come and go, both at once, abandoning reckless speed, but rather gently touching the human soul with images, with whispered words, the cracks in the wall of life: this is the choreography masterfully created in the film Beyond Territories, Valerie Osouf’s portrait of the world acclaimed filmmaker Abderrahmane Sissako.
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Александр Белявский. Личное дело Фокса
Title: Александр Белявский. Личное дело Фокса
Character: Self - Режиссер
Released: October 12, 2012
Type: Movie
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People of 1941
Title: People of 1941
Character: Narrator (voice)
Released: June 17, 2001
Type: Movie
The second World War echoes throughout the whole Khutsiyev's oeuvre. The director himself did not participate in the war: "The thing is, I didn't fight. I had been a sickly boy, so I was turned down because I still looked like a child. This is sort of like a debt I've been repaying ever since". In "People of 1941", Khutsiyev recites his favourite pieces by war poets and invokes documentary footage.
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Title: To Remember
Character: Narrator
Released: December 9, 1993
Type: TV
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On the Day of the Holiday
Title: On the Day of the Holiday
Character: Ramzes
Released: March 9, 1978
Type: Movie
About one day of a large mining family. In the center of the picture is a veteran, a former miner, and now a pensioner Panteleimon Dmitriyevich Grinin, who on Victory Day decided to introduce children to his “lady of the heart” hairdresser Zinaida. The action lasts only a day, but a lot happens during this time with the sons, daughters-in-law, daughter and Zinaida...
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Shine, Shine, My Star
Title: Shine, Shine, My Star
Character: Third 'cuckoo' player (prince)
Released: June 6, 1969
Type: Movie
This late 60s Russian films is set in 1920, just 3 years after the October revolution. Folks had the choice between red and white, revolution and contra revolution. In that torn-apart-time, one man, the comedian Volodya, tries to mediate, not between different ideologies, but social life and art. While others just want to wash away their gloom, he reflects on the everyday sorrows and the role of art in that time of changes.
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Intervention
Title: Intervention
Character: Командующий войсками Антанты
Released: June 6, 1968
Type: Movie
The movie is set during the last days of a foreign intervention against Soviet Russia. Police are searching everywhere for a Bolshevik named Brodsky but cannot find him. Meanwhile, a man named Michel Voronov serves as a teacher to a rich woman's son, Zhen'ka.