MOSCOW, August 26 Russian theater and film director, People's Artist of the RSFSR, laureate of the State Prize of the Russian Federation Gleb Panfilov passed away on Saturday following his wife and muse Inna Churikova, who died at 14 January, said the director of the theater «Lenkom» Mark Varshaver.
Childhood
The childhood of the future director passed in Magnitogorsk and Sverdlovsk, it fell on the war years. «I grew up in the city where everything happened, I wandered around the bloody house, then I got inside and was shocked. Then this theme will appear in my very first picture, then it will echo in» Mother «, and here» The Crowned Family «, as an echo of that a long-standing emotional upheaval,» Panfilov recalled in an interview with Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
Even in his school years, the director had a craving for art. However, his first education was not connected with him. In 1957, Panfilov graduated from the chemical department of the Ural Polytechnic Institute. «In my hometown, everyone respected the profession of engineer very much. As a child, I also liked the word» engineer «. Therefore, I graduated from the institute not under duress, but at will. I studied with pleasure, then worked at a chemical plant. It was there that I decided to take off my first sound picture. I didn’t know then that I would want more, «the director said on the air of the Monologue in Four Parts program. Gleb Panfilov on the Rossiya K TV channel. And only after that, in 1963, he studied at the camera department VGIK and graduated from the directing department of the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Directors in 1965.
Beginning of a career and meeting with Inna Churikova
Panfilov made his first feature film «There is no way through the fire», which received a prize at the Locarno International Film Festival, in 1967, after he began working at the Lenfilm film studio. Prior to this, the director wrote the script in Sverdlovsk and was looking for an actress for the lead role. “I saw her so clearly that I even drew her. And then one day I turned on the TV, and suddenly a girl’s face appeared on the screen … Yes, here she is, Tanya Teutkina!” — he recalled in an interview with AiF.
Later it turned out that that actress was his future wife, Inna Churikova, with whom Panfilov lived for more than 50 years. “I remember this moment now: I go in, a girl sits, she turns her head — she! That same face from the TV! That’s how we met Innochka … It was a gift from heaven,” the director said.
After the first joint creative work, Panfilov created a script especially for Churikova. In 1970, he directed his second feature film, Inception, which won the Silver Lion at the Venice International Film Festival. This picture became a declaration of love of the director to his muse Churikova, who also played a major role in it.
Later, Panfilov, contrary to generally accepted Soviet standards, creates the film «I ask for words» about a «state woman» who does not find herself in the service of the state, but gets lost in it, despite her excellent aspirations and noble human qualities. In the film, critics noted the bold search for a new film language, editing approaches aimed at co-creation with the audience. The picture was awarded at the International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary. 
Author's view
Panfilov moved to the Mosfilm film studio and in 1979 made the film Theme. The picture did not appear on the screen until 1987, as the director touched upon the problem of emigration. Having gone into international distribution, the film received the main prize of the Berlin IFF — «Golden Bear».
“For me, the film “Theme” is a continuation of the series that I started with the paintings “There is no ford in the fire” and “The Beginning.” I am convinced that an artist should be critical of himself. Yesenin (the main character of the film, Kim Yesenin — ed.) to look within yourself for the cause of your dissatisfaction.You can't run away from the problems of life by getting into a car and driving to another city.Life cannot be deceived.One way or another, it will catch up with you again and again.There is only one way, namely: to look at the truth in eyes and, as long as there is strength, solve problems,» Panfilov said in an interview with the German weekly Wochenpost.
In 1990, the director creates the film «Mother» based on the works of Maxim Gorky. Panfilov noted that this is a film «about us today», people returned to what they left at the beginning of the century — «to fabulous wealth and extreme poverty.» The film became one of the most ambitious in the director's career.
A year later, Panfilov created the Vera film studio, named after his mother, and became its artistic director. He believed that cinema should not be considered on a national basis. “Films are only good or bad. Good cinema, as a rule, is colored by individuality, therefore, the features of “Russianness” in my films, I was born, raised and brought up here, I think, are,” Panfilov said in an interview with Cinema Art.
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At the beginning of the new century, the director made a film about the last Russian imperial family, The Romanovs. Crowned Family. The director said that the film tells a story told from the position of a person who was associated with the Romanov family in their last days, as if following them, starting from a certain moment. The director noted that in this respect the idea was fresh, «because until now we have all been on the other side of the barricade.» In May 2001 at the festival «Vivat, cinema of Russia!» in St. Petersburg, the picture was awarded the main prize.
Panfilov remained true to his views on cinema. «Review my films in order of plot chronology: «Forbidden People», then «Vassu», then «There is no ford in the fire», then «Romanovs». And you will see that my views have not changed. There is an episode in my first film: Tanya Tetkina learns that the royal family was shot. It just took me thirty years to get to this tragedy, «the director said in an interview with Kommersant.
In August 2021, at the 74th Locarno Film Festival, the world premiere of the film «Ivan Denisovich» based on the novel by Alexander Solzhenitsyn took place. As a director and screenwriter, Panfilov completed the story of the soldier Ivan Shukhov, telling more details about how he fought, how he was captured, how he fled from him, how he ended up in a camp. Gleb Panfilov for the film «Ivan Denisovich» was awarded the Golden Eagle Award for Best Director. Last November, the picture took the main prize at the 44th Efebo d «Oro International Film Festival in Palermo, Italy. «For me, this is a holiday, wonderful! It is a pity that the world has become more complicated and has become more severe. But perhaps that is why I feel this message so keenly, which is wonderful for me. I will look forward to seeing the prize that we were awarded for the film «Ivan Denisovich,» the director said in an interview with the All-Russian State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company. The film was titled «100 Minutes» internationally. 
At the theater
In 1986, Panfilov made his debut as a theater director on the stage of the Lenkom Theater with William Shakespeare's Hamlet. The main roles in it were played by famous actors Oleg Yankovsky (Hamlet), Alexandra Zakharova (Ophelia), Inna Churikova (Gertrude). Later, also on the stage of «Lenkom», he staged the play «…Sorry» based on the play by Alexander Galin, in which Inna Churikova and Nikolai Karachentsov played the main roles. In 2010, the theater premiered his play «The Lioness of Aquitaine» based on Goldman's play «The Lion in Winter». Two years later, Panfilov staged White Lies based on the play Trees Die Standing by Alejandro Casona.
On the stage of the Theater of Nations in 2017, Panfilov presented the play «The Audience» based on the play by Peter Morgan. The author of the idea of the production was the son of Panfilov and Churikova Ivan Panfilov. «He saw The Audience in London, got completely ill with this material, came to us and inspired us, carried us away with this idea. So this is in some way our family business,» the director said in an interview with Gazeta.Ru.
