Georgiy Daneliya

Georgiy Daneliya (born 1930, Tbilisi, Georgia)

Daneliya is the film director who became known throughout the Soviet Union for his "sad comedies" (as he styles them). He graduated from the Moscow Architecture Institute and initially worked as an architect. In 1956, he entered the Higher Director’s Courses at the Mosfilm Studio. His 1964 feature I Step Through Moscow, starring Nikita Mikhalkov, is one of the most characteristic films of the Khrushchev Thaw. Among Daneliya's most popular movies are Mimino and The Autumn Marathon. Daneliya was a member of the Jury at the Berlin IFF, 1976.  He was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1990, and more recently he received the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts. Daneliya is the scriptwriter for most of his films and has also written scripts for films directed by others, among which are Gentlemen of Fortune (1972), Frenchman (1988) and Hello from Charlie the Trumpet Player (1998).

Filmography

Vasisuali Lohankin (1958, short), Also People (1959, short), Splendid Days (1960), The Road to Berth (1963), Walking the Streets of Moscow (1964), Thirty Three (1965), Don't Grieve (1969), The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1974), Afonya (1975), Mimino (1977), Autumn Marathon (1979), Tears Were Falling (1982), Kin-dza-dza! (1986), The Passport (1991), Nastya (1993), Heads and Tails (1995), Fortune (2000), Ku! Kin-dza-dza (2013).