
Alexei Uchitel
Directing
Biography
Aleksei Yefimovich Uchitel (Russian: Алексей Ефимович Учитель; born 31 August 1951; Leningrad) is a Russian film director, screenwriter and producer. In 2002, he received the title People's Artist of Russia. Uchitel was born on 31 August 1951 in Leningrad to the family of documentary filmmaker Yefim Uchitel. In 1975, he graduated from VGIK, worked at the Leningrad studio of documentary films. In 1990, he founded his film studio "Rock". Uchitel's directorial debut was the film Gisele's Mania. In 2000, he received the Nika Award, the Kinotavr Grand Prix and the Crystal Globe nomination for His Wife's Diary. The film was about the last love affair of Ivan Bunin. His 2003 film The Stroll was entered into the 25th Moscow International Film Festival. His 2005 film Dreaming of Space won the Golden George at the 27th Moscow International Film Festival. In 2006, he was a member of the jury at the 28th Moscow International Film Festival. His 2010 film The Edge was selected as the Russian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 83rd Academy Awards but it did not make the final shortlist. His film Break Loose was selected to be screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. The romantic drama Matilda directed by Uchitel about the relationship between ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya and Nicholas II was released on 23 October 2017. The picture became controversial after State Duma deputy Natalia Poklonskaya led a campaign to ban the film on religious grounds.
Known For

The documentary series tells about the history of the new Russian cinema in the context of events that changed Russia forever. The narrative is built in chronological order: from 1992, when the first film was released, where "Russia" was listed in the output data instead of "USSR", to the present. Directors, actors and producers will share their memories of the path in Russian cinema. Among them are Fyodor Bondarchuk, Gosha Kutsenko, Evgeny Tsyganov, Zhora Gooseberry, Pyotr Buslov, Elena Lyadova, Vladimir Khotinenko, Valeria Guy Germanika, Sergey Selyanov, Egor Konchalovsky and many others.
Cinema 3.0

The action takes place shortly after the end of the Second World War in the Siberian hinterland, among Russians and Germans with damaged personal stories and a strange transformation: the victors seem to be crawling into the skins of the defeated, and vice versa. Ignat, is the embodiment of the larger-than-life image of the Soviet victorious warrior who, in fact, proves to be shell-shocked, sick and broken, although not completely destroyed. Trains become fetish for the heroes of the film, and speed becomes a mania; they virtually become one with their steam engines, while the machines take on human names. The heroes set up an almost fatal race in the Siberian forest, risking their own lives and those of others.
The Edge

Outstanding oratorical talent and natural wit help Fyodor Plevako to smash the accusers in court, and ordinary people consider him a hero.
Plevako

The Fool is a movie about a simple plumber. An honest man, he is up against an entire system of corrupted bureaucrats. At stake are the lives of 800 inhabitants of an old dorm that is at risk of collapsing within the span of the night.
The Fool

The films follows a Syrian War Explosive Ordnance Disposal team who are targeted by ISIS militants while they prepare the recently liberated historic site of Palmyra to hold a symbolic concert of the Mariinsky Symphony Orchestra. The peacekeeping event can only be held in Palmyra that has been severely damaged by the terrorists only if the ancient city and the roads leading to it are defused. The EOD team clears the way one kilometer at a time. But the closer they get to the center of Palmyra, the more destructive the explosives. Tension grows between the young team Captain and the most experienced of the EOD experts. And yet, despite their differences, when the team falls into an ambush and the Captain goes missing, it’s the experienced sapper that sets out to search for him.
Once In The Desert

It portrays the memories of Matilda Kshesinskaya and her love affair with the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II. Matilda, a Polish-born ballerina from the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, had a brief and intense romance with Nicholas between 1892 and 1894, before Nicholas married Alexandra Feodorovna and was crowned Tsar after his father's death. It also explores their relationship, facing societal pressures and interference from Nicholas's mother, Empress Maria Feodorovna, as well as Matilda's involvement with other members of the imperial family, the Romanovs, such as Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich and Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich.
Mathilde

1979: Cousins Carole and Jérôme go on an organized trip to Odessa, behind the Iron Curtain. During the day, posing as tourists celebrating their engagement, they visit monuments and museums. In the evening they slip away from the group and meet “refuseniks”, Jews persecuted by the Soviet regime for wanting to leave the country. While Carole is motivated by political commitment and a taste for risk, Jérôme’s motivation is Carole.
Friends from France

Everything changes in the life of a young 15-year-old Chukchi hunter Lyoshka with the advent of the Internet in the village. He falls in love – for the first time and deeply – with the silent video chat girl. Upon learning that she lives in Detroit, Lyoshka decides on the most desperate act in his life.
The Whaler Boy

No description available.
Семейное cчастье (Semeynoe schaste)
Russian Russian emperor and the ballerina who established the glory of Russian ballet. A passion that could change Russian history. A love that has become a legend. There are several days in every person's life that can change it forever. When the most important thing happens. You turn around at the voice of love. And you make a choice. But if the ruler of the empire falls in love with a dancer who is maddening with her beauty… The Assumption Cathedral, the Kremlin, the Khodynka Field, the royal palaces, the stages of the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theaters — where the heart of eternal Russia beats.
Coronation

The Tsar is having his daughter Zabava marry a charmingly handsome and a handsomely charming Paul, a rich heir and a foreign fancy pants. However, it's a bit of a challenge, since Zabava wants a marriage of love, not of calculation. Her unexpected encounter with sailor Ivan, a simpleton yet an honest and endearing guy, messes up Paul's plans of snatching the crown. Deeply in love with the princess, Ivan enlists help from the residents of an enchanted forest to build a Flying Ship which would then take him and his beloved away. The brave sailor is in for serious confrontation with the sneaky Paul, who's using dark magic to bring his unwanted opponent down. However, true love is going to win this battle: with the evil mastermind punished, Ivan and Zabava step aboard the magic Flying Ship and set sail towards a new common dream of theirs.
The Flying Ship

Seventeen-year-old Georgian Dato and his grandmother try to find common ground in the ruins of their once large family. Everything is going according to plan until Dato's mother suddenly appears on the doorstep after many years of absence.
Sidney Lumet's Day of Birth

A village so small all the residents not only knows each other, but also can easily recognize the neighbor's cow face a frightful news. It was announced on TV that the most powerful coronal mass ejection in the Earth's history would take place. Humankind has only 24 hours left. The world runs mad in different ways getting ready for the apocalypse, and a unique local scenario of waving the life goodbye is inverted in the village. Tables are put together, pies are baked, and some gather strength and courage to make the most important decisions of their lives... But what about the doomsday? It just doesn't arrive. Oops, got it wrong! The situation is heating up. Everybody realize they can't go on as they did before.
Bite the Dust

On a cold winter’s day Sergey Sobolev, a major at the local police office, is driving to the hospital where his wife is about to give birth to their child. High from happiness, he’s driving too fast and runs down a boy on a passage walk, who dies. Now the major has only two options: go to prison or conceal the crime. Sobolev decides to compromise with his conscience and calls on a colleague to help him out. But the case turns out to be messy and when Sobolev finally changes his mind and tries to make up for his deed, it’s already too late…
The Major

After losing her parents, Masha falls in love with her guardian Sergei Mikhailovich. Masha is young, Sergei Mikhailovich is much older, and they have to go through a difficult path to understanding each other.
Family Happiness

A biopic about Soviet composer Dmitry Shostakovich.
Noise of Time

15 August 1990. Viktor Tsoi, the Soviet Union’s most famous rock star, leader of the band Kino, a symbol of freedom and change, dies in an accident on a Latvian highway. The bus driver who was involved in the tragic accident will bring his body back to Leningrad. A party of mourners – Tsoi’s wife and her new boyfriend, his mistress, his producer, his young son and an obsessed photographer – are part of the trip back. This is going to be a long trip, the perfect occasion for an agonizing unravelling of love, jealousy, ambition, and greed.
Tsoi

Ilya lives in Moscow; Nina lives in St. Petersburg. Ilya has a beautiful wife and a daughter; Nina's husband is an artist, and they have a young son. Nina occasionally travels to Moscow to see her partners in the publishing industry. Ilya sometimes comes to St. Petersburg on business. But more often they are in the train between St. Petersburg and Moscow just to see each other. Because they have an affair.
The Connection

By the age of twenty, Eduard Streltsov has everything one can dream of: talent, fame and love. He is the rising star of Soviet football. The whole country, with bated breath, expects victory from the national team at the upcoming World Cup where Streltsov is to face the great Brazilian football player Pelé. However, two days before the departure of the team, the sportsman’s enemies manage to destroy his career. When the door to big sport seems to be closed for good, Streltsov has to re-enter the field and prove that he is a true champion who is worth everybody’s love.
Streltsov

A 1981 documentary film directed by Yuri Ozerov. It showed the opening and closing ceremonies of the 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow. The director was awarded the State Prize of the USSR in 1982. The film was selected as the Soviet entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 54th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.