Roman Balayan (b. 1941, Nerkin-Horatagh, Nagorno-Karabach, USSR) did a stint of acting before turning to film direction. He studied the latter discipline in Yerevan and Kiev, where Sergei Parajanov helped him to launch his career. He established himself as a leading Soviet director with skilfully updated adaptations of Russian classics (Chekhov, Turgenev, Leskov), in which he captured pressing dilemmas of modern times (The Lone Wolf, 1977; The Sleuth, 1987; Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District, 1989). In the audience hit Flights in Dreams and in Reality (1982) he achieved unprecedented authenticity exposing the inner conflict of a generation growing up during the Brezhnev Stagnation; here he also launched his highly inspirational collaboration with actor Oleg Yankovsky (The Kiss, 1983; Take Care of Me, My Talisman, 1986; Birds of Paradise, 2008), who congenially portrayed many of Balayan's unruly heroes.
MFF Karlovy Vary
