Andrei Nekrasov

Andrei Lvovich Nekrasov (Russian: Андре́й Льво́вич Некра́сов; born 26 February 1958 in Saint Petersburg) is a Russian film and TV director from Saint Petersburg.

Andrei Nekrasov 2007

Life and career

Andrei Nekrasov studied acting and directing at the Russian State Institute of Performing Arts in his native Saint Petersburg. He studied comparative literature and philosophy at the University of Paris, taking a master's degree, and film at Bristol University Film School. In 1985, he assisted Andrei Tarkovsky during the filming and editing of The Sacrifice. Nekrasov then made several internationally coproduced documentaries and TV arts programs (notably A Russia of One's Own, Pasternak, The Prodigal Son, and Children's Stories: Chechnya). His first drama short, Springing Lenin (1993) won the UNESCO prize at the Cannes Film Festival that year, and in 1997 his first feature, Love is as Strong as Death won the FIPRESCI prize at Mannheim-Heidelberg. The director's second feature, Lubov and Other Nightmares (2001) won recognition at a great many of festivals all over the world (including Sundance and Berlin) and confirmed his status as a rebel among Russian filmmakers.

Andrei Nekrasov is also a playwright and a theater director. His German productions (of his own plays) include: Der Spieler (The Gambler) in Euro Theater Central in Bonn and Koenigsberg in the Volksbuehne Theatre in Berlin.

Nekrasov's 2007 film, Rebellion: the Litvinenko Case (U.S. Title: Poisoned by Pollonium. The Litvinenko File) presents interviews with assassinated former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko and journalist Anna Politkovskaya.[1] The movie contends that Russian state security service FSB, the successor agency to the KGB, organized bombings of apartments in Moscow and taking hostages in a Moscow theater to justify the second war in Chechnya and bring Vladimir Putin to power. The film was premiered in the official selection of Cannes Film Festival in 2007.

His films include the documentary Disbelief (Недоверие) on the 1999 Russian apartment bombings. This film is available in DVD as an extra to Rebellion: The Litvinenko Case, but a low resolution version is available on Google Video.

Russian Lessons, co-directed and produced by his wife Olga Konskaya and Norwegian producer Torstein Grude, deals with the Russian-Georgian war of 2008. It documents a journey by two directors-protagonists, Olga Konskaya and Andrei Nekrasov, one on each side of the frontline during the hostilities. For this documentary, Nekrasov was named The Person of 2009 in the Georgian Public Broadcaster's internet survey.[2]

In 2011 Nekrasov received an Oxfam Novib/PEN Award.

In 2012 Nekrasov released Farewell Comrades!, a six-part documentary series on the last phase of communism in Eastern Europe, produced for ARTE, YLE and many other European networks by Artline Films (France) and Gebrueder Beetz Filmproduktion (Germany). Nekrasov received the GRIMME Award 2013 for Farewell Comrades!

In the autumn of 2015 Al Jazeera English broadcast In Search of Putin's Russia, a four-part documentary series made by Nekrasov in collaboration with British film-maker Melanie Anstey which explored the attitudes of ordinary Russians towards Vladimir Putin and the country's recent history.[3]

Nekrasov's film The Magnitsky Act – Behind the Scenes, produced in Norway by Piraya Film, supported by a number of European film funds and the public Franco-German TV network Arte TV and completed in 2016, caused a major controversy. The film alleges that western politicians and media were misled by Bill Browder, a U.S. born investor and campaigner, into believing that the Russian tax consultant Sergei Magnitsky had been persecuted and killed for exposing corruption.[4] Bill Browder's version of Magnitsky's life and death has been widely accepted across the world, and became the basis for legislations and sanctions in a number of countries, first of all the U.S. The premiere of Nekrasov's film at the European Parliament, scheduled for April 26, 2016, was stopped at the last moment.[5] A TV broadcast in Germany and France and film's public screenings were cancelled due to Browder's legal challenges.[4]

According to Browder and some media, the film was promoted by a group of Russian patriots that included Natalia Veselnitskaya.[6] Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA)'s office actively promoted the screening, sending out invitations from the office of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia and Emerging Threats, which Rohrabacher chairs.[6]

Filmography

Prizes and awards
  • 1987 - Channel 4’s sole nomination for the Prix Italia (A Russia of One's Own, 1987)
  • 1993 - Cannes Film Festival UNESCO Prize 1993 (Springing Lenin, 1993)
  • 1997 - FIPRESCI Prize at the Mannheim-Heidelberg International Filmfestival (Love is as strong as Death, 1997) 'For the sharp moral and social perspective and the strong, expressive visual language which characterise the film’s view of contemporary reality.'
  • 1997 - Special Jury Prize (Kinotavr), Russian International Film Festival (Love is as strong as Death)
  • 2001 - Special Jury Prize, Moscow International Film Festival (Lubov and Other Nightmares, 2001) "for the innovative film language".
  • 2001 - Best Lead Female Award (Kinotavr), Russian International Film Festival (Lubov and Other Nightmares)
  • 2001 - Nominated for Golden Aries Award – all Russian film critics prize (Lubov and Other Nightmares, 2001)
  • 2004 - Special Mention from the Amnesty Jury, Cph:dox, Copenhagen (Disbelief, 2004)
  • 2005 - Best Documentary Award, Karachi International Film Festival (Disbelief, 2004)
  • 2008 - Rudolf Vrba Award for Rebellion. The Litvinenko Case. One World Film Festival, Prague
  • 2011 - Oxfam Novib/PEN Award[11]
  • 2010 - Golden Chair Best Documentary for Russian Lessons, Grimstad, Norway
  • 2013 - Grimme Award for Farewell, Comrades!, Germany
  • 2016 - Prix Europa Special Commendation for The Magnitsky Act – Behind the Scenes

References
  1. Litvinenko `Rebellion' Poses Awkward Questions Archived 2007-09-30 at the Wayback Machine Cannes Roundup – Iain Millar, Bloomberg, 27 May 2007. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
  2. Andrei Nekrasov Leading in Survey 'Person of 2009' Archived October 22, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. The Georgian Times. December 31, 2009
  3. "From Russia, not always with love". Al Jazeera English. 28 October 2015. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
  4. Landler, Mark (June 9, 2016). "Film About Russian Lawyer's Death Creates an Uproar". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 15, 2016.
  5. "European Parliament cancels show of film about Magnitsky on Browder's order — lawyer".
  6. Hines, Nico (July 19, 2017). "GOP Lawmaker Got Direction From Moscow, Took It Back to D.C." The Daily Beast. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
  7. http://nationalinterest.org/feature/what-really-killed-sergei-magnitsky-16612?page=show (THE NATIONAL INTEREST on the film and its background)
  8. http://nationalinterest.org/feature/response-william-browder-16654 (Response to William Browder)
  9. Russian Lessons at IMDb
  10. Storyville series editor on the film.Retrieved on 2007-07-29.
  11. "Human rights ambassador presents PEN award to Russian filmmaker and journalist". Government of the Netherlands. January 20, 2011. Retrieved September 10, 2012.
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