Ilya Khrzhanovskiy

Director

“Although I hardly believe in the educational power of art, I firmly believe that art (and cinema in particular) has to address the most vital, the most painful, the most relevant topics.”

Biography

Ilya Andreevich Khrzhanovsky (Russian: Илья́ Андре́евич Хржановский; born August 11, 1975 in Moscow, Soviet Union) is a Russian film director. He is the son of Andrei Khrzhanovsky (b. 1939), one of the top Russian animation directors, and grandson of actor Yury Khrzhanovsky (1905—1987).

Khrzhanovsky is best known for directing the film 4, which earned him several awards including a Golden Orange for Best Director at the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival in Turkey and a Golden Cactus and Tiger Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in the Netherlands.

Educated at the Bonn Academy of Arts (1992–1993) and the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography (1998) (VGIK), Khrzhanovsky’s directorial debut was the production of “That Which I Feel” (Russian: «То, что чувствую») at the Kukart Festival at Peterhof in 1997. After a few years working in commercial advertising, he returned to artistic directing. His 2005 film 4 was his first feature film, but he had made… read more