Larisa Shepitko facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Larisa Shepitko
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| Born | 6 January 1938 |
| Died | 2 July 1979 (aged 41) |
| Resting place | Kuntsevo Cemetery, Moscow |
| Nationality | Ukrainian |
| Occupation | Film director, screenwriter, actress |
| Years active | 1956–1979 |
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Notable work
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Wings (1966), The Ascent (1977) |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | 1 |
| Awards |
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Larisa Efimovna Shepitko (born January 6, 1938 – died July 2, 1979) was a talented Ukrainian Soviet film director, screenwriter, and actress. Many people consider her one of the greatest female directors of all time.
Her film The Ascent was very special. It was only the second film directed by a woman to win the Golden Bear award. This is a top prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, a major film event in Europe. Larisa Shepitko was also a very important Soviet filmmaker during a time called the "Thaw." This was a period when people in the Soviet Union had more freedom to express themselves, especially in art.
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Early life and education
Larisa Shepitko was born in Artemovsk, a town in Eastern Ukraine. She grew up with her two siblings and her mother, who was a schoolteacher. Her father left the family when Larisa was very young. She remembered how the war affected her childhood, causing her family to be separated and experience hunger. These early experiences often influenced her films, which sometimes explored feelings of loneliness.
In 1954, she finished high school in Lviv. When she was sixteen, Larisa moved to Moscow. She began studying at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography, a famous film school. Her teacher was a well-known director named Alexander Dovzhenko. She felt a connection to him because they shared a similar background. She also adopted his motto: "Make every film as if it's your last."
Larisa Shepitko was the only female filmmaker studying at this school at the time. Even though most directors were men, she believed it was important for women to create their own unique film styles.
She graduated from film school in 1963 with her award-winning film Heat, also known as Znoy. She made this film when she was just 22 years old. The movie is about a young graduate named Kemel who goes to work on a farm in Central Asia. The film was inspired by a short story and showed the influence of her teacher, Dovzhenko. During the making of Heat, Larisa faced many challenges. Temperatures on location were so hot that the film sometimes melted in the camera! Despite these difficulties, Heat won awards at film festivals. In 1963, Larisa married Elem Klimov, who was also a film student. Their son, Anton, was born in 1973.
Career
Her Films
- Wings (Krylya, 1966) – This was Larisa Shepitko's first film after film school. It tells the story of a decorated female fighter pilot from World War II. After the war, she becomes a school principal but struggles to connect with her daughter and the younger generation. She still thinks like a soldier and finds it hard to adjust to peaceful life. Shepitko showed the character's inner struggles by using tight shots indoors and wide, open shots of the sky, which represented the pilot's freedom when she used to fly. The film caused some discussion in the Soviet Union because it showed problems between parents and children, and it showed a war hero feeling lost.
- Beginnings of an Unknown Era (Nachalo nevedomogo veka, 1967) – In 1967, Larisa directed one part of a three-part film. Her part, called The Homeland of Electricity, was about a young engineer bringing electricity to a poor village. However, the authorities felt the film didn't show the Bolsheviks (the ruling party) in a good light, so it was not released for a long time. Parts of it were finally shown in 1987, but the full original film is now believed to be lost.
- In the 13th Hour of the Night (V trinadtsatom chasu nochi, 1969) – This was Larisa's first color film. It was a musical fantasy, like a New Year's show, with many famous actors.
- You and Me (Ty i ya, 1971) – Larisa's third film followed two male surgeons who had different ideas about what makes life fulfilling. It explored their characters and also looked at how people were becoming more focused on buying things. This was her second and last film in color. It was well-received at the Venice Film Festival.
- The Ascent (Voskhozhdenie, 1977) – This was Larisa's last completed film and the one that became most famous around the world. It starred Boris Plotnikov and Vladimir Gostyukhin in their first big roles. The film is based on a novel and goes back to the difficult times of World War II. It shows the struggles of a group of Soviet fighters in Belarus during the harsh winter of 1942. Two of the fighters are captured and questioned before some of them are executed. The film shows their bravery and sacrifice, sometimes using ideas from Christian stories. The Ascent won the Golden Bear at the 27th Berlin International Film Festival in 1977. It was also chosen by the Soviet Union to be considered for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 50th Academy Awards in 1978. It is even listed in the book "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die."
Larisa Shepitko wanted The Ascent to feel very real. She chose actors who were not famous and whose backgrounds matched their characters. The film was shot in Russia during a very cold winter, with temperatures reaching 40 degrees below zero. Larisa refused any special treatment and wore the same clothes as the cast to truly understand their suffering.
Because of her growing fame, Larisa Shepitko was invited to be a judge at the 28th Berlin International Film Festival in 1978.
Acting Roles
Before she became a director, Larisa Shepitko acted in three films while she was at film school. She had a small role in Eldar Ryazanov's Carnival Night. She also played Hanna in Yuriy Lysenko's Tavriya and Nina in Nikolai Litus and Igor Zemgano's Obyknovennaya istoriya.
Style and Themes
Style
- Larisa Shepitko's films are often described as having a realistic style. Her stories feel very genuine and show things as they truly are. Most of her films were shot in black-and-white. She often filmed in isolated places and used close-up shots of body parts to make her characters feel more personal. She also used wide shots of landscapes to show how alone her characters felt. For example, in The Ascent, two soldiers are alone in a snowstorm. In Wings, an ex-pilot flies alone, showing her separation from society.
- Her films also used a lot of visual, poetic symbolism, meaning she used images to represent deeper ideas.
Themes
- A very important theme in Larisa Shepitko's films was "war," especially World War II. She explored how the war affected people and how its lessons still applied to modern times. In Wings, she showed a pilot who was a hero during the war but struggled afterward. For The Ascent, she explained that she wanted to make a film set during World War II because she felt its themes of heroism were still important in her own time.
- The Calvert Journal, a publication, said that Shepitko was a "political filmmaker" but one who cared deeply about people, not just ideas. Both Wings and The Ascent are strongly against war. They show the sad results of conflict and remove the idea of war being glorious, focusing instead on its painful cost.
- Larisa Shepitko's husband said that she often explored the idea of judging oneself and taking responsibility for one's actions. This theme became very important in her later films like You and Me and The Ascent.
- Sometimes, Shepitko's films also included religious themes. For instance, The Ascent used parts of the stories of Judas and Jesus to compare its two main characters.
Awards
Larisa Shepitko won four awards for her 1977 film The Ascent at the Berlin International Film Festival:
- Golden Berlin Bear - Best Film
- OCIC Award - Competition
- FIPRESCI Prize - Competition
- Interfilm Award Special Mention - Competition
Death
Sadly, Larisa Shepitko died in a car crash on a highway in 1979. She was with four members of her film team, scouting locations for her next movie. This film was going to be an adaptation of the novel Farewell to Matyora by Valentin Rasputin. Her husband, director Elem Klimov, finished the film, which was released as Farewell. He also made a 25-minute tribute film called Larisa (1980) in her memory.
Farewell is about a small village on a beautiful island that is threatened by flooding. The film shows the villagers saying goodbye to their homeland. Critics felt that even though her husband finished it, the final film didn't quite capture Larisa's unique vision. The composer Alfred Schnittke dedicated his String Quartet No. 2 (1981) to her memory.
Elem Klimov's tribute film Larisa suggests that Larisa had been preparing her whole life to make Farewell, and it would have been the highlight of her career.
Valentin Rasputin, the author of the novel, initially didn't want his book to be made into a film. But he said that Larisa was so passionate and excited about her ideas for the movie that she quickly convinced him. Her strong passion for this film makes her early death even more tragic.
See also
In Spanish: Larisa Shepitko para niños
