Our Honest Bread

A fierecely independent filmmaker, Muratova’s career started during Kruschev’s thaw and is still going strong in the Putin era— with several tumultuous decades in between. After studying philosophy at Moscow State University, Muratova attended VGIK and graduated in 1959. She then began a long relationship with Odessa Film Studio that continues to this day. Her early masterpieces, Brief Encounters and A Long Goodbye, were influenced by the experimental trends of sixties cinema. Her novel approach to narrative— and to the Russian pastoral in particular—combined with a bleak, ambiguous, and deeply personal outlook, led to censorship by the Soviet authorities; A Long Goodbye didn’t receive an official release until glasnost in 1987. Outside of an occasional writing and acting opportunity, Muratova’s film career suffered a similar fate. But with glasnost and certainly in the decade since, she’s reclaimed her status as one of the great directors of her generation, and her recent films have been staples of international festivals. —Seagull Films