Directing

Roman Balayan

Born 1941-04-15

Roman Gurgenovich Balayan (Armenian: Ռոման Գուրգենի Բալայան, Russian: Рома́н Гурге́нович Балая́н; born 15 April 1941, Nerkin Horatagh, Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast, Soviet Union) is a Ukrainian-Armenian film director. In 1997 Balayan was awarded the title People’s Artist of Ukraine. Balayan worked as an actor in the theater of Stepanakert (located in the Nagorno-Karabakh region) in 1959–1961. He studied directing at the Yerevan State Institute of Theatre and Cinematography and film directing at the Kyiv National I. K. Karpenko-Kary Theatre, Cinema and Television University, graduating in 1969. Since 1970, he has worked at the Dovzhenko Film Studios in Kyiv. Balayan calls himself a student of Sergei Parajanov. He was nominated and won several international prizes. He is well-known for his literary adaptations; authors whom Balayan has adapted for the screen are Anton Chekhov (Kashtanka, 1975; The Kiss, 1983, TV), Ivan Turgenev (The Lone Wolf, 1977; First Love, 1995), and Nikolai Leskov (Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, 1989). His film Flights in Dreams and Reality (1982), a drama about depression and a midlife crisis, is one of his most well-known works. Oleg Yankovsky portrays a creative man in his 40s who feels alienated in society. At the time of its release, politically minded viewers perceived it as a critique of Brezhnevian “stagnation”. His 1986 film Guard Me, My Talisman was entered into the main competition at the 43rd edition of the Venice Film Festival and won the Golden Tulip at the 1987 International Istanbul Film Festival. His 1977 film Lone Wolf was entered into the 28th Berlin International Film Festival and his 2008 film Birds of Paradise was shown at the 30th Moscow International Film Festival. In 2018 he announced, that he may be shooting his next film in Ukrainian language.

Acting credits

Behind the camera

The Lady in the Car poster
10.0

A young secretary, Helen, must take his boss's car to the garage. On the way she stumbles into unexpected déja vu adventures.

The Lady in the Car

1992

Palm Sunday poster
NR

Impressionistic short student film set on the title day.

Palm Sunday

1969

Romashkin Effect poster
5.5

A musical comedy about the adventures of four friends who are trying to film a yogurt commercials.

Romashkin Effect

1973

Lone Wolf poster
5.3

Based on one of Turgenev's Hunter's Sketches: the Lone Wolf of the title is a forest caretaker for a flippant aristocrat. Though he lives in absolute misery in a hut deep in the woods with two small children to take care of, he's feared for his merciless stalking of the starving serfs who sneak in to cut firewood.

Lone Wolf

1977

Lone Wolf poster
5.3

Based on one of Turgenev's Hunter's Sketches: the Lone Wolf of the title is a forest caretaker for a flippant aristocrat. Though he lives in absolute misery in a hut deep in the woods with two small children to take care of, he's feared for his merciless stalking of the starving serfs who sneak in to cut firewood.

Lone Wolf

1977

Flights in Dreams and in Reality poster
6.5

On the eve of his fortieth anniversary Sergei Makarov looks back at his life and learns that he has achieved nothing. He was not able to be happy and to bring happiness to the closest people in his life, neither to his long-suffering wife nor young mistress nor friends nor work... It is about the men who never grew up and could not find themselves in the time of stagnation – gifted, charming, but infantile and lost, they never were able to realize themselves...

Flights in Dreams and in Reality

1983

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? poster
NR

A film-play based on the play by Edward Albee (translated by Vitaly Vulf, Igor Kochnov).

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

1992

Birds of Paradise poster
2.8

The events of the film take place in the Soviet Union in the early 1980s. It is forbidden to listen to foreign radio stations, it is not safe to voice one’s opinions in front of strangers. Words of truth are spoken only in private kitchens behind the curtained windows. The KGB tap phones, survey the ‘unreliable’ and consistently step by step destroy all forms of decent. The protagonists challenge the inhumane state machine, putting on stake their very lives and proving that nothing and nobody can stop a person who is on his way to achieve a true freedom.

Birds of Paradise

2008

The Kiss poster
5.4

Lieutenant Ryabovich was accustomed to the monotonous life of an officer, but he found another life—society—difficult: ritual conversations, cards, billiards, chance encounters with random women. One of these women kisses Ryabovich in the house of a provincial landowner, and now the officer’s thoughts are consumed by her half-imaginary image. Meanwhile, the frivolous Lieutenant Lobytko teases his gentle friend, unaware of the danger.

The Kiss

1983

The Kiss poster
5.4

Lieutenant Ryabovich was accustomed to the monotonous life of an officer, but he found another life—society—difficult: ritual conversations, cards, billiards, chance encounters with random women. One of these women kisses Ryabovich in the house of a provincial landowner, and now the officer’s thoughts are consumed by her half-imaginary image. Meanwhile, the frivolous Lieutenant Lobytko teases his gentle friend, unaware of the danger.

The Kiss

1983

Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District poster
4.6

Katerina Izmailova, a beautiful and uneducated merchant's wife, feels lonely and bored somewhere in the Russian provinces while her older husband is often away. Years go by in her childless marriage, without an outlet for her youthful energy, resulting in constant idleness and frustration. Along comes Sergei, an unscrupulous young worker who is happy to improve his lot by seducing Katerina as he has done with others before. Katerina falls for Sergei, and this love quickly becomes her only reason for living, turning to destructive passion and ultimately to tragedy for many.

Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District

1989

Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District poster
4.6

Katerina Izmailova, a beautiful and uneducated merchant's wife, feels lonely and bored somewhere in the Russian provinces while her older husband is often away. Years go by in her childless marriage, without an outlet for her youthful energy, resulting in constant idleness and frustration. Along comes Sergei, an unscrupulous young worker who is happy to improve his lot by seducing Katerina as he has done with others before. Katerina falls for Sergei, and this love quickly becomes her only reason for living, turning to destructive passion and ultimately to tragedy for many.

Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District

1989

Thief poster
8.0

Thirst and hunger push the country boy to a seemingly innocent act: he drinks steamed milk right from under a neighbor's cow. But the family of the local rich regards the boy's act as a crime and decides to teach the audacious.

Thief

1969

We Are Here. We Are Close poster
7.5

Alex, an experienced surgeon, makes a mistake in the diagnosis of his seven-year-old godson. The boy dies on the operating table. Stunned, the man tenders his resignation. One autumn morning he is sitting on the riverbank in a favourite place where he used to fish with his godson. Suddenly he notices the figure of a shapely semi-naked girl emerging from the fog. She is shivering with cold. Alex spontaneously offers his help, and thus becomes part of an incredible adventure story.

We Are Here. We Are Close

2021

We Are Here. We Are Close poster
7.5

Alex, an experienced surgeon, makes a mistake in the diagnosis of his seven-year-old godson. The boy dies on the operating table. Stunned, the man tenders his resignation. One autumn morning he is sitting on the riverbank in a favourite place where he used to fish with his godson. Suddenly he notices the figure of a shapely semi-naked girl emerging from the fog. She is shivering with cold. Alex spontaneously offers his help, and thus becomes part of an incredible adventure story.

We Are Here. We Are Close

2021

The One Who Fled Death poster
NR

A wounded soldier limps through the forest, hovering on the brink of death. Among the trees, he catches sight of a woman—but she is in no hurry to help him.

The One Who Fled Death

1968

No artwork available
3.7

A prosperous and calm life in an instant explodes into a monstrous event, and nothing will ever be the same again. A terrible bleeding scar remains in the soul forever. One fine day, a young and charming archaeologist Alexei, five minutes later a doctor of science, learns that his sibling was buried alive. And the brother’s killer is alive and left unpunished. Blinded by grief, Alex decides to kill ...

Two Moons, Three Suns

1998

No artwork available
3.7

A prosperous and calm life in an instant explodes into a monstrous event, and nothing will ever be the same again. A terrible bleeding scar remains in the soul forever. One fine day, a young and charming archaeologist Alexei, five minutes later a doctor of science, learns that his sibling was buried alive. And the brother’s killer is alive and left unpunished. Blinded by grief, Alex decides to kill ...

Two Moons, Three Suns

1998

The First Love poster
5.0

Based on the story of the same name by I. Turgenev. A story about the romantic feeling of falling in love with a young man for whom everything is for the first time.

The First Love

1995

The First Love poster
5.0

Based on the story of the same name by I. Turgenev. A story about the romantic feeling of falling in love with a young man for whom everything is for the first time.

The First Love

1995

The Song of Flying Leaves poster
NR

A journey to a dream through an encounter between Suna, a twelve-year-old girl who uses leaves as a blanket, and an old man who possesses secret knowledge. A reflection on friendship between a father and a daughter, a teacher and a student, an adult and a child, and the path that can turn the impossible into possible… The invented letters are inspired by the old Armenian symbols.

The Song of Flying Leaves

2023

Guard Me, My Talisman poster
4.2

The setting for this off-beat drama of love and jealousy is the Pushkin Poetry Festival in Boldino. Liosha and his wife Tania are walking through the plush forest around Boldino when a mysterious figure pops up from behind a tree and asks the couple a question on an esoteric point of Pushkin scholarship. From that strange beginning, the man, whose name is Klimov, starts to ease himself into the couple's private space, and trouble ensues. Complementing this story is the festival itself, enactments of Pushkin's works, and emotional debates among the festival-goers over the meaning of his poetry.

Guard Me, My Talisman

1986

Kashtanka poster
5.0

The lost dog Kashtanka is picked up on the street by circus actor Monsieur Georges. He gives her a new name - Aunt and, having prepared a number with her, begins to perform in the circus. Their performances are very successful.

Kashtanka

1975

No artwork available
NR

The film is a unique tribute of the director to his master. The space is empty, in the sense, there are no people there, but the items live their peculiar life until the rooster cries out. And that is be the rooster Parajanov made, God knows of what kind of improvised material at hand. It feels like the wind is a night walker here and it turns over the pages of the books. Glass breaking can be heard. The good thing is there are enough collages made of phials and luxurious tableware set fragments. The dolls sit on the frames, letting their legs hang, just like they do in daytime, but something mystical, something fateful appears in them. And Parajanov is close, built-into some other life, in epaulets or even with the people of past epochs. The lamps are switched on, even the oil stoves – everything is the way Parajanov liked. But then it is daybreak already, the rooms are filled with sunlight, and everything changes.

A Night at Paradjanov's Museum

1998