Andrei Tarkovsky - Stalker [Artificial Eye] (1979)

Quote:
Twenty years ago, a meteorite fell to Earth, and decimated a provincial Russian town. Villagers traveled through this curious area, now known as The Zone, and disappeared. Stories purport that there is an inner chamber within The Zone called The Room that grants one's deepest wish. Fearing the consequences from such an inscrutable resource, the army immediately secured the area with barbed wire and armed patrol. But the desperate and the suffering continue to make the treacherous journey, led by a disciplined, experienced stalker who can stealthily navigate through the constantly changing traps and pitfalls of The Zone. A successful Writer (Anatoli Solonitsyn), perhaps searching for inspiration or adventure, and a Scientist (Nikolai Grinko) searching for Truth, enlist the Stalker (Aleksandr Kaidanovsky) to guide them through The Zone. The Stalker has been trained by a renowned stalker named Porcupine, who, after an excursion with his brother into The Zone, returned alone and infinitely wealthy, only to commit suicide a week later. Soon, it is evident that reaching The Zone is not their greatest impediment, but the uncertainty over their deepest wish. As the men approach the threshold to The Room, their fear and trepidation for the materialization of their answered prayers leads to profound revelation and self-discovery.

Donatella Baglivo - Tarkovsky's Cinema + Interviews (1987)

Broadcast on BBC2 Arena, 13 March 1987. Contains interview footage with Tarkovsky as he discusses each of his seven major films. He also talks about his world-view and
his philosophy of filmmaking. The film also includes footage of a Tarkovsky lecture to
young film students in which he expresses his thoughts on modern cinema.

Andrei Tarkovsky - Andrey Rublyov (1966)

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Widely recognized as a masterpiece, Andrei Tarkovsky's 205-minute medieval epic, based on the life of the Russian monk and icon painter, was not seen as the director intended it until its re-release over twenty years after its completion. The film was not screened publicly in its own country (and then only in an abridged form) until 1972, three years after winning the International Critics Prize at the Cannes Film Festival. Calling the film frightening, obscure, and unhistorical, Soviet authorities edited the picture on several occasions, removing as much as an entire hour from the original.

Presented as a tableaux of seven sections in black and white, with a final montage of Rublev's painted icons in color, the film takes an unflinching gaze at medieval Russia during the first quarter of the 15th century, a period of Mongol-Tartar invasion and growing Christian influence. Commissioned to paint the interior of the Vladimir cathedral, Andrei Rublev (Anatoli Solonitsyn) leaves the Andronnikov monastery with an entourage of monks and assistants, witnessing in his travels the degradations befalling his fellow Russians, including pillage, oppression from tyrants and Mongols, torture, rape, and plague. Faced with the brutalities of the world outside the religious enclave, Rublev's faith is shaken, prompting him to question the uses or even possibility of art in a degraded world. After Mongols sack the city of Vladimir, burning the very cathedral that he has been commissioned to paint, Rublev takes a vow of silence and withdraws completely, removing himself to the hermetic confines of the monastery.

Dmitry Trakovsky - Meeting Andrei Tarkovsky (2008)

"This film was conceived in honor of the 20th anniversary of the death of one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema - Andrei Tarkovsky. The young filmmaker Dmitry Trakovsky sets out in search of his favorite director's legacy. His journey leads him to fifteen moving interviews in California, Italy, Sweden, and finally, Russia, as he attempts to come closer to the meaning of one of Tarkovsky's most enigmatic beliefs... that death doesn't exist. The result is the acclaimed documentary MEETING ANDREI TARKOVSKY, which takes an in-depth and poetic look at the late Russian filmmaker who created under the oppressive censorship of the Soviet government. It explores the life and films of Tarkovsky through diverse interviews and stories told by friends, colleagues and others who have been influenced by his art, providing a rare glimpse into Tarkovsky's working methods and personal philosophy of humanity."

Andrei Tarkovsky & Tonino Guerra - Tempo di viaggio aka Voyage in Time aka Travelling Time (1983)

Plot Summary :
Tarkovsky’s documentary explores the creation of the screenplay for his penultimate film ‘Nostalgia’. It shows his wide-ranging discussions with his Italian co-writer Tonino Guerra (Antonioni’s regular collaborator) and the hunt for suitable locations that might embody his vision of the film.

Robert Bird - Andrei Tarkovsky: Elements of Cinema (2008)

A revered filmmaker, Andrei Tarkovsky is secure in the long and illustrious line of Russian masters in arts and letters. Linking cinematic technique to broader questions of meaning and intrepretation, Robert Bird offers a wholly original investigation into the aesthetic principles of Tarvkovsky's filmmaking. While providing a comprehensive analysis of his work in all media, including radio, theatre and opera, Bird argues that Tarkovsky was most at home in the cinema. Accordingly, the author dwells chiefly on Tarkovsky's major films: Ivan's Childhood, Andrei Rublev, Solaris, Mirror, Stalker, Nostalghia and Sacrifice. With its wealth of film stills and photographs, this book is a key text for all admirers of Tarkovsky and European cinema.

Donatella Baglivo - Andrey Tarkovsky in Nostalghia (1984)

Donatella Baglivo's documentary during filming of Nostalghia.
Shot on the film's set, gives a fascinating insight into the making of Nostalghia and includes interviews with Tarkovsky, the cast and crew.

Andrei Tarkovsky - Andrey Rublyov AKA Andrei Rublev (1969) DVD

Presented as a tableaux of seven sections in black and white, with a final montage of Rublev's painted icons in color, the film takes an unflinching gaze at medieval Russia during the first quarter of the 15th century, a period of Mongol-Tartar invasion and growing Christian influence.

Commissioned to paint the interior of the Vladimir cathedral, Andrei Rublev (Anatoli Solonitsyn) leaves the Andronnikov monastery with an entourage of monks and assistants, witnessing in his travels the degradations befalling his fellow Russians, including pillage, oppression from tyrants and Mongols, torture, rape, and plague. Faced with the brutalities of the world outside the religious enclave, Rublev's faith is shaken, prompting him to question the uses or even possibility of art in a degraded world. After Mongols sack the city of Vladimir, burning the very cathedral that he has been commissioned to paint, Rublev takes a vow of silence and withdraws completely, removing himself to the hermetic confines of the monastery.

Eduard Artemiev - Tarkovsky movies OST (1972-79)

Eduard Artemiev - Tarkovsky movies OST (Solaris-The Mirror- Stalker)

Eduard Artemiev

In the latter part of the 1950’s, the engineer and mathematician Yevgeniy Murzin had a problem. He had just realized his life long dream of constructing music synthesizer (then called "ANS") but knew no musician with sufficient imagination to explore its vast potential. In 1960, upon meeting 22-year-old Edward Artemyev, a recent graduate of the Moscow conservatoire, Murzin immediately felt he had found what he was searching for in the young composer, who embraced the new instrument and quickly mastered its many subtleties. Artemyev has since composed numerous works varying from electronic avant-garde to film music. He is probably best known for his collaboration with A. Tarkovskiy composing music for his films: "SOLARIS" in 1972, "THE MIRROR" in 1975 and "STALKER" in 1979; and with such filmmakers as Andrei Mikhalkov-Kontchalovskiy and Nikita Mikhalkov.

Andrei Tarkovsky - Sculpting in Time (1989)

Quote:

This extraordinary book is not just about filmmaking, it's about all art...about life, faith, inner exploration and the Russian soul. It contains exquisite poetry, mostly written by his father, Arseniy Tarkovsky, and detailed descriptions of the making of several of his films as well as photos of them that are eerie, mystical, and incredibly beautiful. Tarkovsky is the master of making us see the wonder of creation in the most mundane subjects. He brings us one step closer in our journey towards the light. From page 43: "The allotted function of art is not, as is often assumed, to put across ideas, to propagate thoughts, to serve as an example. The aim of art is to prepare a person for death, to plough and harrow his soul, rendering it capable of turning to good".

Levon Grigoryan - Andrei Tarkovsky & Sergei Parajanov - Islands (1988)

Description: A 40 minute documentary discussing the friendship of Tarkovsky and Parajanov and their contrasting filmmaking styles and personalities, including interviews with friends and associates.

Marlen Khutsiyev - Mne dvadtsat let (Мне двадцать лет) AKA I am Twenty (1964)

Communism, youth and adulthood in 1960s Russia

Review:
Half Godard, half serious but worthy drama, with an unexpected bit of propaganda thrown in for good measure, Khutsiev's 3-hour epic is an
interesting, serious and even fun look at Moscow circa 1964. Some of it is idealized and lying: the clean communal apartments without alcoholics, the bright streets unlittered. Some of it is truthful and
feels true, even if Russians of that generation hadn't confirmed its truthfulness post-screening. Its all blended together so well, though, that truth and falsehood make a single fascinating film.

Andrei Tarkovsky & Tonino Guerra - Tempo di viaggio aka Voyage in Time aka Travelling Time (1983)

Plot Summary :
Tarkovsky’s documentary explores the creation of the screenplay for his penultimate film ‘Nostalgia’. It shows his wide-ranging discussions with his Italian co-writer Tonino Guerra (Antonioni’s regular collaborator) and the hunt for suitable locations that might embody his vision of the film.

Andrei Tarkovsky - Ubiytsy (Убийцы) AKA The Killers (1958)

Ernest Hemingway' wrote a short story called "The Killers". It has penetrated the interest of readers and filmmakers since it was initially brought to the public. First in film in 1946, by director Robert Siodmak with his adaptation of 'The Killers'. It was the epitome of the term 'film noir'. In 1956, then-film student Andrei Tarkovsky brought the world his version in a 19-minute short and then in 1964, Don Siegel (originally on tap to direct the 1946 version) took the reigns for yet another version.

Andrei Tarkovsky - Katok i skripka (Каток и скрипка) AKA The Steamroller and the Violin (1960)

Katok i Skripka (The Steamroller and the Violin) was the last short Andrei Tarkovsky directed before moving on to his first feature. The film tells a very simply story of friendship between an artistic, sensitive seven-year-old violinist named Sasha and a physical, blue-collar steamroller operator. They befriend each other after Sasha is threatened by some ruffians, spend the day together, and alter each other's perceptions of life

Andrei Tarkovsky - Solyaris aka Solaris [+Extras] (1972)

Based on a novel by Stanislaw Lem, Solaris centers on widowed psychologist Kris Kelvin (Donata Banionis), who is sent to a space station orbiting a water-dominated planet called Solaris to investigate the mysterious death of a doctor, as well as the mental problems plaguing the dwindling number of cosmonauts on the station.

Finding the remaining crew to be behaving oddly and aloof, Kelvin is more than surprised when he meets his seven-years-dead wife Khari (Natalya Bondarchuk) on the station. It quickly becomes apparent that Solaris possesses something that brings out repressed memories and obsessions within the cosmonauts on the space station, leaving Kelvin to question his perception of reality.

Andrei Tarkovsky - Nostalghia (Ностальгия) (1983)

How could I have imagined as I was making Nostalghia that the stifling sense of longing that fills the screen space of that film was to become my lot for the rest of my life; that from now until the end of my days I would bear the painful malady within myself?
- Andrei Tarkovsky: Sculpting in Time

SYNOPSIS

Director Andrei Tarkovsky recasts his lifelong cinematic motif of humanity's quest for faith in the waterlogged and mist-ensconced countryside of Italy for his philosophical masterpiece Nostalghia. Andrei Gorchakov (Oleg Yankovsky) is a misanthropic Russian scholar researching the life of an exiled Russian composer who committed suicide. With the help of his beautiful guide, Eugenia (Domiziana Giordano), Andrei visits mystical and religious sites on the trail of the late composer's legacy.

Andrei Tarkovsky - Segodnya uvolneniya ne budet (Сегодня увольнения не будет) AKA There Will Be No Leave Today (1958)

From wikipedia

There Will be No Leave Today (Russian: Сегодня увольнения не будет, Sevodnya uvolnyeniya nye budyet) is a 1959 student film by the Russian film director Andrei Tarkovsky and his fellow student Aleksandr Gordon. The film is about members of the Soviet army during a time of peace. It was Tarkovsky's second film, produced while being a student at the State Institute of Cinematography.

Andrei Tarkovsky - Ivanovo detstvo AKA Ivan's Childhood [+Extras] (1962)

Plot Synopsis
This debut feature-length wartime drama by noted Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky was a remarkable introduction to a remarkable career. The poetic touch of Tarkovsky's hand and his measured pace is already evident as the tale of the young, twelve-year-old Ivan (Nikolai Burlyayev) evolves. Ivan is orphaned after his village is wiped out by an invading Nazi army and as a consequence, he ends up in a prison camp. The inventive lad escapes and is adopted by Captain Kholin (Valentin Zubkov), whose intention is to send the boy away to school. But Ivan is determined to help the Russian army and so he starts spying on the German forces. Because of his tender years he manages to pass freely back and forth behind enemy lines -- at least for awhile. This exemplary film won the top prize, the Golden Lion award at the 1962 Venice Film Festival and also won the Grand Prize at the 1962 San Francisco Film Festival. - Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

Andrei Tarkovsky - Offret [+Extras] (1986)

The Sacrifice, director Andrei Tarkovsky's final film, begins in Bergmanesque fashion on a small, remote island, where friends and family gather for drama critic Alexander's (Erland Josephson) birthday celebration.

The revelry is interrupted by a radio announcement: World War III has begun, and Mankind is only hours away from utter annihilation. Each of the guests reacts differently to the news: the most dramatic response is Alexander's, who promises God that he'll give up everything he holds dear - including his beloved 6-year-old son - if war is averted. Allan Edwall, a local mailman with purported mystical powers, offers to intervene with the Creator on Josephson's behalf.

The Sacrifice is so dependent upon its visuals and overall mood that any attempt at a detailed synopsis would be woefully inadequate. The willingness of Tarkovsky's protagonist to forego all his possessions may well have sprung from the cancer-ridden director's awareness that he, too, would soon be giving up everything to face his Maker.