Andrei Konchalovsky will soon begin work on the film “Michelangelo”. In July he will travel to Italy for a location Manager.

photo: Gennady Cherkasov

Andrei Konchalovsky

Italy — home to Konchalovsky. Literally, you can say, as in Tuscany his home. It is in Tuscany in 1475 and was born of the great Italian artist and sculptor Michelangelo Buonarotti. “We will begin to look for locations at the end of July, we will go to Italy. And in August will start shooting in Carrara, where Michelangelo developed marble quarries. It will be a Russian-Italian production. Most of the money from Russia. We went cap in hand to sponsors. To say anything yet about the movie I won’t as I’m a superstitious man.”

Carrara marble is one of the most valuable. It has been used even during the reign of Julius Caesar. Built the Pantheon and Trajan’s Column in Rome. Carrara marble Michelangelo carved his David .

In 2016, the most recent film “Ray” Andrei Konchalovsky received the “Silver lion” at the Venice film festival and was nominated by Russia for the award “Oscar”. He even entered the nine contenders in the category “Best foreign language film”, but before the final five got. Ahead of the announcement of the nominees Konchalovsky said: “I don’t know why everyone is so excited about the American Academy. Honestly, not the most important prize in the world. But marketing is marketing. Our film is made slightly crazy by people who wholeheartedly followed the idea. We can say that it is a product of love. The most important thing is that there is a war of memory and trying to review the results of the XX century, the vulgar forget the terrible Holocaust. Consciously erase from memory the events, which at any moment can be repeated.” So the other day after the announcement of the nominees for the film award “Nika,” he continued the theme: “American blockbusters remind me of strawberries from the supermarket — no smell, no taste.” He has been active in recent years for low-budget movies, such as “White nights postman Alexei Trapezina”.

When this film our filmmakers nominated for the Academy award, Konchalovsky has sent the name of the Chairman of the Russian Oscar Committee Vladimir Menshova the letter in which asked to exclude your film from the list discussed. And guided by the fact that in recent years, sharply criticized the hollywoodization of the Russian market and the pernicious influence of commercial American cinema on the formation of tastes and preferences of viewers. In a similar situation to fight for the “Oscar” on his part is ridiculous. Yes, and the wording “Best foreign language film” is nothing but a segregation of world cinema from the Anglophone world, obsolete idea of the cultural dominance of the West. “In the modern world the development of world cinema culture has long been determined not by the massive success of American or psevdoallergicakie cinema, and artists from Asia, Latin America, Far East, Russia including,” wrote Konchalovsky.

“White nights postman Alexei Trapezina” with participation of inhabitants of the Arkhangelsk village received the “Silver lion” for best Director at the Venice film festival in 2014. “Michelangelo” as a Russian-Italian project has elevated the chances to participate in the Venice film festival.