ANDREY TARKOVSKY. A CINEMA PRAYER

Russia, Sweden, Italy/ 2019/ 97′

DIRECTED BY: Andrey A. Tarkovsky

SCREENPLAY BY: Andrey A. Tarkovsky

CINEMATOGRAPHY: Alexey Naidenov

EDITED BY: Michał Leszczyłowski, Andrey A. Tarkovsky

PRODUCERS: Andrey A. Tarkovsky, Dmitrii Klepatski , Peter Krupenin , Paolo Maria Spina

PRODUCED BY: Andrey Tarkovsky International Institute, Klepatski Production, HOB AB, Revolver

FESTIVALS & AWARDS: Venice International Film Festival 2019; IDFA 2019; São Paulo International Film Festival 2019; Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival 2019; RIDM Montreal 2019; CINEMANIA Film Festival 2019; Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival 2019; International Film Festival of India 2019; Porto/Post/Doc 2019; Cinema Vérité 2019

Andrey Tarkovsky is a film legend who has been the subject of countless works – and none of them is anything like this essay. Directed by the filmmaker’s son, the film offers an original take on Tarkovsky, using only his audio recordings and writings for source material. The filmmaker himself revisits his life and work, from a childhood torn between his mother’s love and his profound respect for his poet father, to his exile in Europe. With images from his films, copious private archival material and new footage filmed on Tarkovsky’s filming locations and important places in his life, this “cinema prayer” sheds invaluable light on a movie titan and his vision of film and the world.

Andrey A. Tarkovsky is a documentary filmmaker born in Moscow in 1970. He divides his time between Florence, Paris and Moscow. As a son of film director Andrey Tarkovsky, he devoted his life and career to the preservation and promotion of his father’s work and he is the president of the Andrey Tarkovsky International Institute. He made his debut in 1996 with TV documentary Andrey Tarkovsky. The Reminiscence. He has also made documentary portraits of other artists and directed musical performances. He works with Russian and Italian television houses and with German record label ECM. In 2006, he won the first prize at the festival of short films in Sabaudia with Bastignano (2006).