Sometimes a person does not make an informed choice of a profession right away - it happened to the director Pavel Lungin.
He was born in 1949 in the family of screenwriter Semyon Lungin and translator Lillianna Lungina. His father was a famous screenwriter (films "Practical Joke", "Attention, Turtle!" And others), and his mother translated books by Astrid Lindgren, Henrik Ibsen and August Strindberg for Russian readers.
Pavel was immersed in the world of intelligent and well-read people, this influenced him - he entered the philological department of Moscow State University. He was supposed to become a linguist, and became a social worker, but in his spare time he wrote articles, and then scripts. So, in 1976, he wrote the script for the film "It's all about the brother, " and it was directed by Vladimir Gorlov.
How to become a director?
Lungin did not yet know the answer to this question, because he went on courses to George Danelia in order to become a screenwriter. And he became one - he wrote good scripts, in which such films as The End of the Taiga Emperor (1978), Invincible (1983) and others were shot. In the period preceding his directorial career, about ten scripts were written, but this work did not bring much pleasure. He was already about 40 years old, and as if he had not yet found his place in life.
That's when he decided to shoot his film as a director. This happened in 1990, when Lungin’s Taxi Blues tape was released. It was made with great sincerity and dedication - after all, the script for it, too, was written by Paul himself. This story of two dissimilar people won the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Director.
After this, Pavel Semenovich left for France to make films, but the main theme of his work remained Russian reality and Russian life. His films "Luna Park" (1992), "Wedding" (1999) received the prizes of the Cannes Film Festival, he also shot many paintings that caused a huge resonance in society. In his creative piggy bank, the film "Island", beloved by many, has a number of awards at prestigious festivals.
Pavel Lungin rarely takes vacations, works hard, and all 15 years spent in France, and then constantly takes off. His portfolio includes biographical and historical dramas, multi-genre paintings. The latest to date is the painting "Queen of Spades" (2016), where Lungin tried to combine opera with a mystical thriller.
