Kira Muratova

Directing

Kira Muratova

Born 1934-11-05 · Soroca, Kingdom of Romania [now Moldova]

Kira Georgievna Muratova (Ukrainian: Кіра Георгіївна Мура́това; née Korotkova; 5 November 1934 – 6 June 2018; Soroca – Odesa) was a Soviet and Ukrainian film director, screenwriter and actress of Romanian/Jewish descent, known for her unusual directorial style. Muratova's films underwent a great deal of censorship in the Soviet Union, yet still Muratova managed to emerge as one of the leading figures in contemporary Cinema of Ukraine and Russian cinema and was able to build a very successful film career from 1960s onwards. She is People's Artist of Ukraine(1989); Academician of National Academy of Arts of Ukraine (1997). Laureate of the Shevchenko National Prize (1993) (in List of laureates at 1993 - № 12); Oleksandr Dovzhenko State Prize (2002). Muratova spent much of her artistic career in Odesa, creating most of her films at Odesa Film Studios. Her work has been described as possibly 'one of the most distinctive and singular oeuvres of cinematic world-making.'

Acting credits

Brief Encounters poster
5.9

Country girl Nadia moves to the city and becomes a maid in Valya's apartment. Valya, who is a member of the local District Committee, does not know that Nadia fell in love with her currently absent husband, a geologist named Maksim, when he had visited Nadia's village during a recent expedition.

Brief Encounters

1967

The Garden of Desires poster
5.2

The film is set during the last summer before the Great Patriotic War. Three sisters are coming to stay with their grandmother in the village. They imagine the world as a vast and charming "Garden of desires" and all members of the household are waiting for Asya's birthday. Asya has a sense of foreboding regarding the impending grief. Guests come to visit but none of them are her parents. She still does not know that her father was declared an enemy of the people, that tomorrow she will not see her mother and that the war is approaching.

The Garden of Desires

1988

Furtively About Kira poster
NR

In VGIK, she was a student of the workshop of Sergei Gerasimov and Tamara Makarova, and watched Godard's "Last Breath" and thought, nothing more is needed. Everything is already there. But, in the end, without her, without her 22 films, the history of world cinema would be incomplete. In our country, her name has become one of the undisputed geniuses-Tarkovsky, Parajanov, Herman, Sokurov. The brilliant Kira Muratova looks at a person with irony, as if from a distance and from above, as if at a funny puppet theater, but her gaze is full of sympathy. It divides artists into two categories: preachers and gamblers. Of course, he considers himself one of the latter. Chance is her muse. Improvisation is a feature of the method. And what is life but improvisation? In contrast to Rene Clair with his phrase " my film is ready. It remains only to remove it", goes to the set, opening up to life, the game of chance.

Furtively About Kira

2019

Spring Rain poster
NR

A sweet romance unfolds between two young factory workers who meet on a train and set out to discover their city together before the young woman must return to her flat.

Spring Rain

1958

What Beat You Nothing poster
NR

Alla Demidova ranks among the greatest actresses to have graced the Russian-language stage over the past six decades, as well as screens big and small. She's famous for her tragic characters. Perhaps because she, above all, understands the world as a realm of worries and sorrow?

What Beat You Nothing

2021

I Am an Ox, I Am a Horse, I Am a Man, I Am a Woman poster
6.0

This glasnost-era documentary, which incorporates footage from films from the 1920s through the 1980s, looks at the history of women in Russian cinema through the eyes of Russian women directors, actors, and scriptwriters. The film’s title refers to a WWII slogan about women doing the work of absent men in the fields and at home. Featuring Kira Muratova, Natalia Ryazantseva, Inna Churikova, Nonna Mordyukova, and others.

I Am an Ox, I Am a Horse, I Am a Man, I Am a Woman

1988

…in Memory of the Master poster
NR

The film is dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the shooting of the feature film "Secondary People," filmed at the Odesa Film Studio in 2001. On the set is People's Artist of Ukraine, film director Kira Muratova.

…in Memory of the Master

2021

Dangerous Tour poster
6.2

Based on the events that took place in Odessa in 1910, when, on the instructions of the Foreign Bureau of the RSDLP, a prominent Bolshevik underground worker arrived in the city under the guise of a French timber merchant, who was to organize the delivery of illegal literature to Russia through the Odessa port. The task can be completed. In Odessa, a variety show theater was created, which, having gained fame, toured Russia and received "theater props" from France...

Dangerous Tour

1969

Kira poster
NR

Film about the work of Ukrainian film director Kira Muratova.

Kira

2003

Behind the camera

Our Honest Bread poster
4.7

Makar has spent years overseeing work at a collective farm. After he is asked to retire, it is time for Makar's son to take the reins. Yet the farm workers' hopes are soon dashed, and it is up to Makar to right the ship.

Our Honest Bread

1964

Brief Encounters poster
5.9

Country girl Nadia moves to the city and becomes a maid in Valya's apartment. Valya, who is a member of the local District Committee, does not know that Nadia fell in love with her currently absent husband, a geologist named Maksim, when he had visited Nadia's village during a recent expedition.

Brief Encounters

1967

Brief Encounters poster
5.9

Country girl Nadia moves to the city and becomes a maid in Valya's apartment. Valya, who is a member of the local District Committee, does not know that Nadia fell in love with her currently absent husband, a geologist named Maksim, when he had visited Nadia's village during a recent expedition.

Brief Encounters

1967

Chekhovian Motifs poster
4.4

The film is based on A. P. Chekhov’s play “Tatiana Repina” and short story “Difficult People”. At his wedding, the groom is horrified to see among the church crowd his former mistress who had recently committed suicide.

Chekhovian Motifs

2002

Chekhovian Motifs poster
4.4

The film is based on A. P. Chekhov’s play “Tatiana Repina” and short story “Difficult People”. At his wedding, the groom is horrified to see among the church crowd his former mistress who had recently committed suicide.

Chekhovian Motifs

2002

Passions poster
3.5

Blonde Lilia and brunette Violetta are fascinated by horse racing, and the young racers are more than a little attracted to them, too. However, the worlds of sporting and romance don't always coexist peacefully as the two girls learn the hard way through a series of touching, surreal, and sometimes heartbreaking encounters. One of the most beautifully photographed Russian films in recent years, this acclaimed modern classic was hailed at numerous film festivals including the Berlin Film Festival and Russia's Kinotavr Festival, where it won the Jury and Critics Prizes. Amazon

Passions

1994

Passions poster
3.5

Blonde Lilia and brunette Violetta are fascinated by horse racing, and the young racers are more than a little attracted to them, too. However, the worlds of sporting and romance don't always coexist peacefully as the two girls learn the hard way through a series of touching, surreal, and sometimes heartbreaking encounters. One of the most beautifully photographed Russian films in recent years, this acclaimed modern classic was hailed at numerous film festivals including the Berlin Film Festival and Russia's Kinotavr Festival, where it won the Jury and Critics Prizes. Amazon

Passions

1994

The Tuner poster
6.5

A young piano tuner befriends two rich old-ladies, and plots, with the help of his girlfriend, to betray their trust and steal from them.

The Tuner

2005

The Tuner poster
6.5

A young piano tuner befriends two rich old-ladies, and plots, with the help of his girlfriend, to betray their trust and steal from them.

The Tuner

2005

The Asthenic Syndrome poster
5.7

In the old days it was called hypochrondria, or black melancholia. Now, apparently, it's termed the Asthenic Syndrome. Whatever it is, Nikolai, a teacher of epicly indifferent pupils, has got it, and it's not much fun.

The Asthenic Syndrome

1989

The Asthenic Syndrome poster
5.7

In the old days it was called hypochrondria, or black melancholia. Now, apparently, it's termed the Asthenic Syndrome. Whatever it is, Nikolai, a teacher of epicly indifferent pupils, has got it, and it's not much fun.

The Asthenic Syndrome

1989

Three Stories poster
6.2

A man goes to see his former schoolmate working at a boiler house and persuades him to burn in the furnace the corpse of his communal flat neighbor whom he has just murdered after a quarrel. An orphaned girl gets a job in the archives of the maternity home to find out the identity of her mother who abandoned her years earlier. She finds her, befriends her and takes the first opportunity to throw her into the sea. An old intellectual tries to explain to the neighbor’s five-year-old daughter “all the abomination of her lumpen existence”. The girl feeling hurt for her mother decides to poison the old man with arsenic.

Three Stories

1997

Change of Fate poster
4.5

A lawyer defends a wealthy woman accused of murder. She claims it was self-defense. The lawyer is not sure.

Change of Fate

1987

Change of Fate poster
4.5

A lawyer defends a wealthy woman accused of murder. She claims it was self-defense. The lawyer is not sure.

Change of Fate

1987

Spring Rain poster
NR

A sweet romance unfolds between two young factory workers who meet on a train and set out to discover their city together before the young woman must return to her flat.

Spring Rain

1958

Spring Rain poster
NR

A sweet romance unfolds between two young factory workers who meet on a train and set out to discover their city together before the young woman must return to her flat.

Spring Rain

1958

Second Class Citizens poster
3.6

The movie examines the lives of the not-so-fortunate dregs of society through absurdist comedy. The unfortunates of the title are mentally challenged people, some of whom could be termed insane - or merely inane.

Second Class Citizens

2001

Second Class Citizens poster
3.6

The movie examines the lives of the not-so-fortunate dregs of society through absurdist comedy. The unfortunates of the title are mentally challenged people, some of whom could be termed insane - or merely inane.

Second Class Citizens

2001

The Long Farewell poster
6.5

A single mother is confused by the changes in her teenage son, who has become distant since spending summer vacation with his father.

The Long Farewell

1971

The Sentimental Policeman poster
4.1

In this affectionate, leisurely paced comedy, an Odesa policeman is out walking his beat when he discovers an adorable infant abandoned in a cabbage patch. He does his duty and takes the baby to an orphanage, but later he and his wife, who have an unusually affectionate and cozy relationship, decide to try and adopt the little one. What they must go through to accomplish that goal is anything but straightforward.

The Sentimental Policeman

1992

The Sentimental Policeman poster
4.1

In this affectionate, leisurely paced comedy, an Odesa policeman is out walking his beat when he discovers an adorable infant abandoned in a cabbage patch. He does his duty and takes the baby to an orphanage, but later he and his wife, who have an unusually affectionate and cozy relationship, decide to try and adopt the little one. What they must go through to accomplish that goal is anything but straightforward.

The Sentimental Policeman

1992

Getting to Know the Big Wide World poster
5.3

On a rough and tumble construction site for a new factory, the conversation flows and love blooms for trio Lyuba, Misha, and Kolya. In the liminal space of their workplace, they build material and intangible connections.

Getting to Know the Big Wide World

1978

Getting to Know the Big Wide World poster
5.3

On a rough and tumble construction site for a new factory, the conversation flows and love blooms for trio Lyuba, Misha, and Kolya. In the liminal space of their workplace, they build material and intangible connections.

Getting to Know the Big Wide World

1978

By the Ravine poster
3.8

Senya, a young hunter, hunts for two wolves that have been preying on sheep of various farms in Siberia. Kira Muratova and husband Oleksandr Muratov's diploma film.

By the Ravine

1962