NIKITA MIKHALKOV

Mikhalkov studied acting at the children's studio of the Stanislavsky Theatre and later at the Chuksin School of the Vakhtangov Theatre. While still a student, he apppeared in Georgy Danelia's film "I Walk in Moscow" (1964) and his brother Andrei Konchalovsky's film "A Nest of Gentry" (1969). He was soon on his way to becoming a star of the Soviet stage and cinema.

While continuing to pursue his acting career, he then went to VGIK, the state film school in Moscow, where he studied directing under filmmaker Mikhail Romm, teacher to his brother and Andrei Tarkovsky. He directed his first short film in 1968, "I'm Coming Home," and another for his graduation, "A Quiet Day at the End of the War" in 1970. Mikhalkov had appeared in over twenty films, including his brother's "Uncle Vanya" (1972), before he co-wrote, directed and starred in his first feature, "At Home Among Strangers" in 1974, a kind of Soviet Western set during the 1920s civil war.

Mikhalkov established an international reputation with his second feature, "A Slave of Love" (1976). Set in 1917, it followed the efforts of a film crew to make a silent melodrama in a resort town while the Revolution rages around them. The film was highly acclaimed upon its release in the U.S.

Mikhalkov's next film, "An Unfinished Piece for Player Piano" (1977) was adapted by Mikhalkov from Chekhov's early play, "Platonov," and won the first prize at the San Sebastian Film Festival. In 1978, while starring in his brother's epic film "Siberiade," Mikhalkov made "Five Evenings," a love story about a couple separated by World War II, who meet again after fifteen years. Mikhalkov's next film, "Oblomov" (1980), is based on Ivan Goncharov classic novel about a lazy young nobleman who refuses to leave his bed. "Family Relations" (1981) is a comedy about a provincial woman in Moscow dealing with the tangled relationships of her relatives. "Without Witnesses" (1983) tracks a long night's conversation between a woman and her ex-husband when they are accidentally locked in a room.

Incorporating several short stories by Chekhov, "Dark Eyes" (1987) stars Marcello Mastroianni as an old man who tells a story of a romance he had when he was younger, a woman he has never been able to forget. The film was highly praised, and Mastroianni received the Best Actor Prize at the Cannes Film Festival and an Academy Award nomination for his performance. Mikhalkov's next film, "Close to Eden" (1992, aka "Urga"), set in the little known world of the Mongols, who live on the border between Russia and China, was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Foreign Language Film. Mikhalkov's "Anna: 6-18" (1993) documents his daughter Anna as she grows from childhood to maturity.

Mikhalkov has continued his acting career, appearing in such films as "The Call," "Song to Manchuk," "The Red Tent," "Flights of Fancy," "Station for Two, "Cruel Romance," and many of his own films, including "At Home Among Strangers," "A Slave of Love," "An Unfinished Piece for Player Piano" and "Burnt by the Sun." He has built up a reputation as an actor's director. Mikhalkov says that he improvises on the set, "in the way that Bergman does; that's to say during long careful rehearsals, which are the only way to give the team, and particularly the actors, the freedom they need. I find it impossible to have a complete blueprint for a film. Partly because I'm not sure that what I intend to do will be right, and partly because a film is always a living thing and I need to confirm this constantly. I don't set out to 'make cinema.' it's rather that something happens between the cinema and me and the result is a film."