Tarkovsky: Films, Stills, Polaroids and Writings

Andrey Tarkovsky was the most important Russian filmmaker of the post-war era, and one of the world’s most renowned cinematic geniuses.

Tarkovsky’s films are characterized by metaphysical themes, extended takes, an absence of conventional dramatic structure and plot, and a dream-like, visionary style of cinematography. They achieve a spiritual intensity and transcendent beauty that many consider being without parallel.

He directed the first five of his seven films – Ivan’s Childhood, Andrei Rublev, Solaris, Mirror and Stalker – in the Soviet Union, but in 1982 defected to Italy, where he made Nostalgia. His final film, The Sacrifice, was produced in Sweden in 1985.

This book presents extended sequences of stills from each of the films alongside synopses and cast and crew listings. It includes reflections on Tarkovsky’s work from fellow artists and writers including Jean-Paul Sartre and Ingmar Bergman, for whom Tarkovsky was ‘the greatest, the one who invented a new language.’

Extracts from Tarkovsky’s own writings and diaries offer a wealth of insights into his poetic and philosophical views on cinematography, which he described as ‘sculpting in time'. The book also reproduces many personal Polaroid photographs that confirm the extraordinarily poetic vision of a great artist who died aged only 54, but who remains a potent influence on artists and filmmakers today.

Contents List:

Essay by Andrej Tarkovsky Jr: The Closed Time • A Tarkovsky Biography • An Introduction to the Films by H. J. Schlegel • Essays on Tarkovsky • Private Photos and Polaroids: Russia

About the Author:

Andrey A. Tarkovsky is the son of filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky.
Hans-Joachim Schlegel is a film historian and the editor and translator of the writings of Sergei Eisenstein and Andrei Tarkovsky.

List of Contributors:

Lothar Schirmer, Hans-Joachim Schlegel, Jean-Paul Sartre, Sven Nykvist, Erland Josephson, Ingmar Bergman, Chingiz Aitmatov, Aleksandr Sokurov