Valery Todorovsky

Russian film director, screenwriter and TV producer

In this name that follows East Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is  Petrovich and the family name is  Todorovsky.

Valery Todorovsky

Born|

Valery Petrovich Todorovsky

(1962-05-08) 8 May 1962 (age 62)

Odesa, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine)

Citizenship| Soviet Union (1962–1991)
Russia (1991–present)
Occupation(s)| Film director, screenwriter, TV producer
Years active| 1996 — present
Spouse|

Evgeniya Brik

(m. 2006; died 2022)​

Father| Pyotr Todorovsky

Valery Petrovich Todorovsky (Russian: Вале́рий Петро́вич Тодоро́вский, Ukrainian: Валерій Петрович Тодоровський; born 9 May 1962, in Odesa) is a celebrated Russian film director, screenwriter, TV producer. A member of a prominent dynasty of filmmakers, he is the son of Pyotr Todorovsky and the father of Pyotr Todorovsky Jr.

## Biography

[edit]

### Early years and family

[edit]

Valery Todorovsky was born in Odesa on 8 May, 1962,[1] to a prominent Soviet film director Pyotr Todorovsky and his wife Mira, nee German.[2][3] As recalled by Todorovsky, he practically grew up on set as he always followed his father at work. He played his first role in cinema when he was still a schoolboy.[4] When he was 10, the family moved to Moscow.[1]

Following in his father's footsteps, Todorovsky sought to enter the directing department of the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, but failed twice. On his third attempt, he enrolled in the scriptwriting course and graduated in 1984. He emerged as a screenwriter with the movie The Double, co-written with Andris Kolbergs.[5][2][1]

### Cinema

[edit]

His directorial debut, The Hearse (Katafalk), won the Grand Prix at Mannheim (1990). Released in 1991, Todorovsky's sophomore feature Love became a break-through and brought him the Ecumenical Prize at Cannes (1992),[6] as well as awards at Sozvezdie, Chicago, Geneva, San Sebastian and Montpellier Film Festivals.[7][8][9][10]

His 1994 noir drama Katya Ismailova, starring Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė, is a modern adaptation of Nikolai Leskov's 1865 novella Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.[11] The movie was well received by critics and audience and won 5 Nika Awards, including Best Director.[12][13][14]

One of Todorovsky's most known works is a 1998 drama The Country of Deaf, written by actress and director Renata Litvinova and based on her own novella To Have and to Belong, became a big success and reached cult status. The film was selected for the 48th Berlin International Film Festival in 1998,[15] it won several Nikas (for Best Female Actor (Dina Korzun) and Best Sound Design (Gleb Kravetsky).[16]) and Best Films Award at the 1998 Russian Guild of Film Critics Awards. An intense drama, it portrayed the world devoid of love, where love was substituted with erotic obsession or becomes a prey to financial interests.[5][17][18]

In 1999 Todorovsky was a member of the jury at the 21st Moscow International Film Festival.[19]

His 2008 musical film Hipsters became widely popular in Russia, grossed $16 mln and won the Golden Eagle Award and Nika Award for Best Film. Though it couldn’t target foreign audiences on the same level as Russian, the movie was released internationally, screened at several festivals and collected a series of awards, including the Black Pearl narrative film award in 2009 at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival.[20][21]

After the success of the Hipsters, Todorovsky returned to the 1960s in Russia with two TV series, The Thaw and the Optimists, both well received by the audience and critically acclaimed.[22][23][24]

### TV and producing

[edit]

Since the 1990s, Todorovsky has also been active as a producer, his credits include dozens of TV series and feature films.[1][2]

Among others, he co-produced the Russian gangster TV series Brigada (2002) and the 2005 TV adaptation of the Master and Margarita for Telekanal Rossiya, detective series Vorona in 2018 for NTV channel.[1] In 2013, Todorovsky debuted as TV series director with The Thaw, a melodrama about life in the Soviet Union during the early years of Nikita Khrushchev's era.[1]

Since 2018, he has been the director of ‘Pilot’ youth film festival.[2][25]

In 2022, his drama In two premiered on a Russian streaming service More.tv, it starred Alexander Petrov, Danila Kozlovsky, and Irina Starshenbaum.[1]

## Personal life

[edit]

Todorovsky was married for 20 years to Natalya Tokareva, the couple had a daughter Ekaterina and a son, Pyotr Jr. His son from the first marriage, Pyotr Todorovsky Jr., emerged as a successful film director.[26]

Valery Todorovsky was married by second marriage to actress Evgeniya Brik, with whom he had a daughter Zoya, born in 2009 in Los Angeles.[27][28] The couple lived in the USA and occasionally returned to Russia for work.[25] Brik died from cancer in 2022.[29]

## Selected filmography

[edit]

### Director

[edit]

* 1990 – Katafalk
* 1991 – Love
* 1994 – Katya Ismailova
* 1998 – The Country of Deaf
* 2002 – The Lover
* 2004 – My Step Brother Frankenstein
* 2007 – Vice
* 2008 – Hipsters
* 2013 – The Thaw TV series
* 2017 – Bolshoi
* 2019 – Odesa
* 2020 – Hypnosis
* 2022 – Nadvoe TV series

### Screenwriter

[edit]

* 1991 – Cynics
* 1992 – Over the Dark Water
* 2013 – The Geographer Drank His Globe Away

### Producer

[edit]

* 1999-2000 – Kamenskaya (TV series)
* 2003 – The Idiot
* 2006 – Piranha
* 2006 – Kiss of a Butterfly
* 2006 – Filipp's Bay
* 2008 – S. S. D.
* 2009 – Oxygen
* 2014 – Chagall — Malevich
* 2014 – Iron Ivan
* 2021 – The Danube

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f g "Valery Petrovich Todorovsky". TASS. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
2. ^ a b c d "К юбилею Валерия Тодоровского: восемь интересных фактов из жизни знаменитого режиссера". Mir24. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
3. ^ "«Кино живо, пока оно — бизнес» Валерий Тодоровский — о сериалах, «русском Голливуде» и Одессе". Meduza. 2016-05-02. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
4. ^ "Валерий Тодоровский: кино не прощает предательства". BBC. 2008-11-25. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
5. ^ a b Taylor 2000, p. 242.
6. ^ "Wettbewerb/In Competition". Moving Pictures, Berlinale Extra. Berlin: 34. 11–22 February 1998.
7. ^ Bronner, S.J. (2008). Jewishness: Expression, Identity and Representation. Jewish Cultural Studies. Liverpool University Press. p. 180\. ISBN 978-1-909821-01-9. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
8. ^ Beumers, Birgit (2002-08-16). ""The Lover", Dir. Valeri Todorovsky (Russia, 2002)". ArtMargins. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
9. ^ Lawton 2004, p. 148.
10. ^ Cockrell, Eddie (2002-10-01). "The Lover". Variety. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
11. ^ Bueno Alonso 2024, p. 98.
12. ^ "Katia Ismaïlova". Unifrance. Retrieved 2025-02-17.
13. ^ "Katia Ismaïlova". Time Out. 2012-09-10. Retrieved 2025-02-17.
14. ^ Nesselson, Lisa (1994-05-30). "Katia Ismailova". Variety. Retrieved 2025-02-17.
15. ^ "Berlinale: 1998 Programme". berlinale.de. Retrieved 2012-01-22.
16. ^ "Лауреаты Национальной кинематографической премии "НИКА" за 1998 год". Nika Award.
17. ^ "Land Of The Deaf People". Unifrance. Retrieved 2025-02-17.
18. ^ Lawton 2004, p. 195.
19. ^ "21st Moscow International Film Festival (1999)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 2013-03-22. Retrieved 2013-03-23.
20. ^ Khachatourian, Maane (2013-10-24). "Jacki Weaver to Lead Abu Dhabi Fest's Narrative Competition Jury". Variety. Retrieved 2025-02-18.
21. ^ Felperin, Leslie (2009-05-18). "Hipsters". Variety. Retrieved 2025-02-18.
22. ^ Muchnik, Andrey (2017-05-15). "Russia's 'Mad Men': The Soviet New Wave Meets Hollywood". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
23. ^ Roth, Andrew (2017-05-15). "These Russian TV operatives aren't 'The Americans' but they were created by one". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
24. ^ Idov, Michael (2016-01-07). "My Accidental Career as a Russian Screenwriter". The NY Times. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
25. ^ a b Sikova, Tatiana (2023-06-24). "После смерти Евгении Брик от онкологии ее муж Валерий Тодоровский стал седым: режиссер появился на видео в США". The Voice. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
26. ^ Yakubovskaya, Valentina (2022-05-08). "Режиссер из семьи режиссера. 8 фактов из биографии Валерия Тодоровского". Moskovsky Komsomolets. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
27. ^ "Евгения Брик об "Оттепели", дочери и жизни в Лос-Анджелесе" (in Russian). Hello!. 2014-01-02.
28. ^ "Дочка российского режиссера Валерия Тодоровского прославилась в США". Stolitsa Onego. 2017-06-01. Retrieved 2025-02-19.
29. ^ "Скрывала страшную болезнь, увела Тодоровского из семьи: звезда "Оттепели" Евгения Брик умерла в 40 лет" (in Russian). KP. 2022-01-11. Retrieved 2022-01-11.

## Literature

[edit]

* Taylor, Richard (2000). The BFI Companion to Eastern European and Russian Cinema. British Film Institute. p. 242\. ISBN 978-1-83871-849-7.
* Bueno Alonso, Jorge L. (2024). Teaching Shakespeare in Film and the Arts Today: Models, Methods, Materials. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-0364-1480-1.
* Lawton, Anna M. (2004). Imaging Russia 2000: Film and Facts. New Academia Publishing. p. 148\. ISBN 0-9744934-2-2.

## External links

[edit]

* Media related to Valery Todorovsky at Wikimedia Commons
* Valery Todorovsky at IMDb

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*[m.]: married