Konstantin Lopushansky

Konstantin Lopushansky was born on June 12, 1947 in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukrainian SSR.[2] His mother was linguistics professor Sofia Petrovna Lopushanskaya, who worked at the Volgograd university.[3] Konstantin's father was Sergei Timofeyevich Lopushansky, a front-line soldier who died in 1953 from wounds he sustained in war.[4]

In 1970 Konstantin Lopushansky graduated from Kazan conservatoire as a violinist, and in 1973 he completed a postgraduate course in Leningrad conservatoire with a Ph.D. thesis in art criticism. Then Konstantin Lopushansky taught at the Kazan and Leningrad conservatories for several years.

Afterwards he took the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors (director's department, workshop of Emil Loteanu.[2][5] Upon graduating the courses in 1979 he assisted Andrei Tarkovsky in directing the legendary film Stalker, based on the novel Roadside Picnic by Boris Strugatsky.[5] Lopushansky's thesis film Solo made in 1980 was about a musician playing his last concert during the Siege of Leningrad.[6] Since 1980 Lopushansky has worked as a production director at the Lenfilm cinema studio.[7]

In 1986 Konstantin Lopushansky made his feature film directorial debut with the post-apocalyptic picture Dead Man's Letters, co-authored by Boris Strugatsky. It was screened at the International Critics' Week section of the Cannes Film Festival in 1987[8] and received the FIPRESCI prize at the 35th International Filmfestival Mannheim-Heidelberg.[9]

Lopushansky's 1994 film Russian Symphony was screened in the Forum section of the 45th Berlin International Film Festival where it received the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury.[10][11]

His 1989 film A Visitor to a Museum was entered into the 16th Moscow International Film Festival where it won the Silver St. George and the Prix of Ecumenical Jury.[12]

In 2006 Lopushansky made The Ugly Swans based on the novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The science-fiction film was about a writer who visits a boarding school for gifted children where the teachers are mutants.

Lopushansky's 2013 drama film The Role, which told the story of an actor who decides to impersonate a deceased commander of the Red Army, was shown in competition at the 35th Moscow International Film Festival.[13] It received the Nika Award for Best Screenplay.[14]

Konstantin Lopushansky's film Through the Black Glass is set to be released in 2018.[15][16]