Gleb Panfilov

Directing

Gleb Panfilov

Born 1934-05-21 · Magnitogorsk, USSR (Russia)

Gleb Anatolyevich Panfilov (Russian: Глеб Анатольевич Панфилов; 21 May 1934 – 26 August 2023; Magnitogorsk) was a Soviet and Russian film director noted for a string of mostly historical films starring his wife, Inna Churikova. His first film "No Path Through Fire" won the Golden Leopard at the 22nd Locarno International Film Festival (1969). He also won the Golden Bear at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival (1987) for the film "The Theme". In the 1980s Panfilov, a chemist by profession, moved to theatre directing, but also found time to adapt for the screen Alexander Vampilov's play Valentina (1981), as well as Maxim Gorky's Vassa Zheleznova (1983) and Mother (1989). Vassa won the Golden Prize at the 13th Moscow International Film Festival and Russia's State Prize. He won the Golden Bear at the 37th Berlin International Film Festival for the film The Theme. Despite the hardships of the 1990s Panfilov was committed to directing The Romanovs: An Imperial Family, an epic story of the Romanov sainthood. The film, finally released in 2000, was a sort of family project involving his wife as well as children. It was also his first movie that did not feature his wife in a leading role. In 2000 at the 22nd Moscow International Film Festival Panfilov was awarded an Honorable Prize for his contribution to cinema. In January 2006 RTR TV aired Panfilov's miniseries based on Alexander Solzhenitsyn's novel The First Circle. The Nobel Prize-winning author helped adapt the novel for the screen and narrated the film. Gleb Panfilov died on 26 August 2023, at the age of 89.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

Stepan's Remembrance poster
6.0

The heiress of a gem mage travels to St. Petersburg to fulfill her father's dream and her destiny.

Stepan's Remembrance

1977

Burnt by the Sun 2: Citadel poster
4.2

The final part of Mikhalkov's trilogy about Divisional Commander Kotov finds him returning home during World War II having been betrayed, narrowly escaped execution for treason and nearly reduced to dust in a prison camp. Only to discover that everything has changed and he will have to fight again for his name, for his honor, and for his love.

Burnt by the Sun 2: Citadel

2011

Burnt by the Sun 2: Exodus poster
4.7

Epic film about WWII, a sequel to Utomlyonnye solntsem (1994). Evil Stalin is terrorizing people of Russia while the Nazis are advancing. Russian officer Kotov, who miraculously survived the death sentence in Stalin's Purge, is now fighting in the front-lines. His daughter, Nadia, who survived a rape attempt by Nazi soldiers, is now a nurse risking her own life to save others. In the war-torn nation even former enemies are fighting together to defend their land. People stand up united for the sake of victory. Written by Steve Shelokhonov

Burnt by the Sun 2: Exodus

2010

No Path Through Fire poster
5.8

A talented girl is trying to find happiness amidst the Russian revolution of 1917 and the civil war that split the nation.

No Path Through Fire

1967

No Path Through Fire poster
5.8

A talented girl is trying to find happiness amidst the Russian revolution of 1917 and the civil war that split the nation.

No Path Through Fire

1967

100 Minutes poster
7.0

100 Minutes is the tale of thousands of Soviet soldiers who fought the Nazis and whose only ‘crime’ was to get caught. Stalin’s justice meted out on the prisoners who returned home was swift: ten years of forced labour in the Siberian camps. Why then would prisoners like Ivan Denisovich fight to stay alive to face another day of hell?

100 Minutes

2021

100 Minutes poster
7.0

100 Minutes is the tale of thousands of Soviet soldiers who fought the Nazis and whose only ‘crime’ was to get caught. Stalin’s justice meted out on the prisoners who returned home was swift: ten years of forced labour in the Siberian camps. Why then would prisoners like Ivan Denisovich fight to stay alive to face another day of hell?

100 Minutes

2021

Mother poster
4.6

The social ferment in late 19th century Russia which led to the 1917 Russian Revolution is movingly portrayed in this lengthy historical drama, which is very faithful to the 1907 novel The Mother by the celebrated Marxist writer Maxim Gorky (1868-1936). In the story, "the mother" has no other recourse than to watch her decent, kindly husband turn into an animalistic, drunken brute as a result of working in the inhuman conditions of a steel mill in the town of Sormovo. When he begins to express his suppressed rage by beating her, she is defended by her teenaged son Pavel. After his father's death, Pavel is forced to go to work in the same factory. However, Pavel and his friends begin investigating Marxism and socialist thought, and work to organize their fellow workers.

Mother

1990

Mother poster
4.6

The social ferment in late 19th century Russia which led to the 1917 Russian Revolution is movingly portrayed in this lengthy historical drama, which is very faithful to the 1907 novel The Mother by the celebrated Marxist writer Maxim Gorky (1868-1936). In the story, "the mother" has no other recourse than to watch her decent, kindly husband turn into an animalistic, drunken brute as a result of working in the inhuman conditions of a steel mill in the town of Sormovo. When he begins to express his suppressed rage by beating her, she is defended by her teenaged son Pavel. After his father's death, Pavel is forced to go to work in the same factory. However, Pavel and his friends begin investigating Marxism and socialist thought, and work to organize their fellow workers.

Mother

1990

The Romanovs: A Crowned Family poster
5.2

The story of the last year and a half of Tsar Nicholas II and his family from the February Revolution of 1917 to their execution in July 1918.

The Romanovs: A Crowned Family

2000

The Romanovs: A Crowned Family poster
5.2

The story of the last year and a half of Tsar Nicholas II and his family from the February Revolution of 1917 to their execution in July 1918.

The Romanovs: A Crowned Family

2000

I Wish to Speak poster
6.4

The mayor of a village sees her son killed in a gun accident. A successful, dedicated bureuacrat, she must reconcile her desire to build a bridge - and the new housing that will come with it - with the reality of resistance from the townspeople and her own grief.

I Wish to Speak

1976

I Wish to Speak poster
6.4

The mayor of a village sees her son killed in a gun accident. A successful, dedicated bureuacrat, she must reconcile her desire to build a bridge - and the new housing that will come with it - with the reality of resistance from the townspeople and her own grief.

I Wish to Speak

1976

Vassa poster
6.3

For many years, Vassa Zheleznova has been leading the family business and, despite the inconspicuous children, her dissolute husband, alcoholic brother, and revolutionary daughter-in-law, is trying to maintain at least the appearance of a normal family... 1913 is coming, and everything that was dedicated to her life is wrecked.

Vassa

1983

Vassa poster
6.3

For many years, Vassa Zheleznova has been leading the family business and, despite the inconspicuous children, her dissolute husband, alcoholic brother, and revolutionary daughter-in-law, is trying to maintain at least the appearance of a normal family... 1913 is coming, and everything that was dedicated to her life is wrecked.

Vassa

1983

Lie for Salvation poster
NR

The action of the play has been transferred to our time. Can a lie be a salvation? Is it possible to save a person by lying?

Lie for Salvation

2015

The Theme poster
5.6

In search of inspiration and new topics, the famous metropolitan writer Kim Yesenin goes to the province. Unexpectedly for himself, he discovers that here people live very differently than in the world familiar to him. By chance, he witnesses someone else's love drama - intellectual Sasha and dissident Andrei who is leaving for America.

The Theme

1979

The Theme poster
5.6

In search of inspiration and new topics, the famous metropolitan writer Kim Yesenin goes to the province. Unexpectedly for himself, he discovers that here people live very differently than in the world familiar to him. By chance, he witnesses someone else's love drama - intellectual Sasha and dissident Andrei who is leaving for America.

The Theme

1979

Meeting poster
10.0

Anna and Nikolai meet many years later. In their youth, they loved each other, but life separated them.

Meeting

1980

The Beginning poster
6.2

A talented girl from the provincial Russian town Pasha Stroganova dreams of becoming an actress. She plays the role of Baba Yaga in the amateur theatre — and does it so organically that the visiting filmmaker offers her the most difficult role in the historical drama about Joan of Arc. She was given not only great acting talent, but the talent of deep, selfless love. A dream comes true: she is invited to the main role, and she begins a completely different life, full of real creative torment, insights and true happiness.

The Beginning

1970

The Beginning poster
6.2

A talented girl from the provincial Russian town Pasha Stroganova dreams of becoming an actress. She plays the role of Baba Yaga in the amateur theatre — and does it so organically that the visiting filmmaker offers her the most difficult role in the historical drama about Joan of Arc. She was given not only great acting talent, but the talent of deep, selfless love. A dream comes true: she is invited to the main role, and she begins a completely different life, full of real creative torment, insights and true happiness.

The Beginning

1970

Audience poster
NR

...Every Tuesday, at six o'clock in the evening, the Queen of Great Britain gives an audience to the Prime Minister. No one and nothing obliges them to participate in this ritual, but according to the rules of good form, the Prime minister must inform his monarch about events in the country and the world. For six and a half decades, many politicians have replaced each other in the chair of the head of the cabinet, from Sir Winston Churchill to Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May, the world has changed beyond recognition. Only one thing remains unshakable – the report of the Prime minister, whoever it is, is received by Queen Elizabeth II, who has occupied the British throne for the longest time in history.

Audience

2019

The Man Who Was Lucky poster
8.0

The life story of gifted geologist Vladimir Ishutin, as seen through the eyes of his sons.

The Man Who Was Lucky

1978

Hamlet poster
7.0

TV performance of the famous work of Shakespeare.

Hamlet

1989