Avdotya Smirnova
1969 (55 лет)Avdotya Smirnova was born in Moscow, to actors Natalya Rudnaya and Andrei Smirnov. Her grandfather Sergey Smirnov was a Soviet writer and historian. Smirnova has been interested in cinema since childhood. When her father forbade her to enter Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, she went to MSU Philology Department. After three years she transferred to GITIS, but didn’t finish her studies. In 1987-88, Smirnova worked at Mosfilm with Sergei Solovyov, in the meantime performing in punk-rock band Tupie and contributing to Urlait samizdat magazine. At the age of 20, Smirnova married Arkady Ippolitov and moved to Leningrad with him. Several years later, in 1995, she was invited to Kommersant and emerged as a journalist, she contributed to Afisha, Vogue, Seans, and other magazines. For some time in the early 2000s she worked as a speechwriter for Union of Right Forces and Anatoly Chubais.
In 2002-2014 Smirnova co-hosted The School for Scandal with her long-time friend, Russian writer Tatyana Tolstaya. The program received TEFI award in 2003 in Best Talk Show nomination. Smirnova wrote her first screenplay in 1992. Together with Alexei Uchitel she created The Last Hero (Russian movie) about Kino leader Viktor Tsoi. In 1993, she wrote the Butterfly documentary, also in collaboration with Uchitel. In 1995, Gisele's Mania based on Smirnova’s screenplay was released. In 2000, Alexey Uchitel released His Wife's Diary based on Smirnova's screenplay. Smirnova was awarded at The Hartley-Merrill International Screening Competition. Other movies written by Smirnova are The Stroll (2003), The Connection (2006), Gloss (2007), Fathers and Sons (2008), 9th of May: Personal Perspective. All films met mostly positive responses both by critics and the public.
The Connection, released in 2006, became Smirnova's first experience as a director. Her comedy drama Two Days (2011) collected many awards but was much criticized for romanticizing the state officials as one of the protagonists and main hero in the movie was running for governor's post. In parallel with Smirnova's real life marriage to a top-ranking state official, critics perceived the film as an attempt to whitewash the image of the government employees. In 2012, she released Kokoko, a movie co-written with Anna Parmas and directed by Smirnova. The tragicomedy about a Russian museum worker brought its main actress Anna Mikhalkova the Best Prize for acting at Kinotavr 2012 and numerous accolades for Smirnova. In 2016, Smirnova became one of the directors of the Peterburg: only by love cinema almanac, a so-called love letter in a movie form to the cultural capital of Russia. In 2018, Smirnova released The Story of a Single Purpose. The script is based on a true story that happened to 38-years old Leo Tolstoy. In 2021, Smirnova released Vertinsky — an 8-series film about prominent Russian chansonnier Alexander Vertinsky.
Перекрёсток рока
Heini Drui
Konstantin Kinchev, Pyotr Mamonov
Documentary film written by music critic Artemiy Troitskiy. It depicts the variety of Soviet and Baltic rock music and offers its viewer an idea that all this forbidden music is not really dangerous for society. Featuring music bands: "Круиз" (Tambov), "In Spe" (Estonia), "Новый мир" (Estonian hard-rock), "Великие Луки" (punk-rock from Tallinn). Moscow music scene represented by: "Тупые", "Нюанс", "Звуки Му". Leningrad music scene: "Джунгли", "Алиса". Also appearing: "Воплі Відоплясова" from Kiev and "Антис" from Lithuania. Not credited: Roman Neumoev with "Инструкция по выживанию" and Oleg Sudakov with "Гражданская оборона".
The Crossroad Of Rock
История одного назначения
Avdotya Smirnova
Alexey Smirnov, Philipp Gurevich
The shrill and tragic story about an event that involved Count Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy. In an infantry regiment of the military based in the Tula region an offence occurs. In this regiment, the capital’s lieutenant Grigory Kolokoltsev — inspired by progressive ideas — does his service. A military tribunal and execution await the soldier charged with the offence. Kolokoltsev asks Count Tolstoy for help — and he decides to protect the innocent man. The pointed history about the complexity of choice and fidelity to one’s ideals is based on real events.
The Tolstoy Defence
Me Too
Alexey Balabanov
Alexandr Mosin, Oleg Garkusha
Five passengers - the Bandit, his friend Matvei, Matvei's old father, the Musician, and a young woman - race along an empty road in a big black jeep, searching for the Belfry of Happiness which, according to hearsay, lies somewhere between St. Petersburg and the town of Uglich, near a deserted nuclear power station. The Belfry takes people, but it does not take everyone. Each of the five passengers believes that he or she will be chosen.
Me Too
Плотник
Avdotya Smirnova
Aleksey Filimonov, Margarita Bychkova
The Osipovs are a very ordinary family from Ulyanovsk. Father, mother and son. They are no different from thousands and thousands of other families, except that they are happy. They love each other. The sudden illness of the son drives through them with an asphalt roller. Parents are ready for anything, they lose their home, and sometimes their human form, trying to save their child. At some point, even the mother breaks down. But not the father. The most ordinary person. A provincial carpenter.
Carpenter
Пока ночь не разлучит
Boris Khlebnikov
Aleksandr Yatsenko, Yevgeni Syty
A genuine satiric comedy, based on real conversations - both amusing and sad - overheard by a journalist in one of the most expensive Moscow restaurants. Hilarious and revealing, this is a film about women who choose between affection and money, film producers that don't really know what they're filming, and weary businessmen who sometimes say screw it, down a shot and leave their mother-in-laws to pay the bill. But most of all, it's about true love that favors noisy kitchen floor over gilded fine-dining halls.
Till Night Do Us Part
Petersburg: Only for Love
Natalya Kudryashova, Renata Litvinova
Renata Litvinova, Anna Mikhalkova
Petersburg. A Selfie comprises seven novellas about the beautiful city of St. Petersburg, Russia, shot by female directors. The film tells a story of a real, living and breathing city, rather than a mythical phantasm. Each novella tells its own story about love and loneliness, luck and hope.
Petersburg: Only for Love
Связь
Avdotya Smirnova
Anna Mikhalkova, Mikhail Porechenkov
Ilya lives in Moscow; Nina lives in St. Petersburg. Ilya has a beautiful wife and a daughter; Nina's husband is an artist, and they have a young son. Nina occasionally travels to Moscow to see her partners in the publishing industry. Ilya sometimes comes to St. Petersburg on business. But more often they are in the train between St. Petersburg and Moscow just to see each other. Because they have an affair.
The Connection