Andrei Tarkovsky

Andrei Arsenyevich Tarkovsky was a Russian film director, screenwriter, and film theorist. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in Russian and world cinema. His films explored spiritual and metaphysical themes, and are noted for their slow pacing and long takes, dreamlike visual imagery, and preoccupation with nature and memory.Tarkovsky studied film at Moscow's VGIK under filmmaker Mikhail Romm, and subsequently directed his first five features in the Soviet Union: Ivan's Childhood, Andrei Rublev, Solaris, Mirror, and Stalker, a number of his films from this period are ranked among the best films ever made. After years of creative conflict with state film authorities, Tarkovsky left the country in 1979 and made his final two films abroad; Nostalghia and The Sacrifice were produced in Italy and Sweden respectively. In 1986, he also published a book about cinema and art entitled Sculpting in Time. He died of cancer later that year.