Background
Zvyagintsev was born in Novosibirsk, Siberia.
Zvyagintsev was born in Novosibirsk, Siberia.
At the age of 20 in 1984 he graduated from the drama school in Novosibirsk as an actor.
Following The Return, Zvyagintsev directed The Banishment and Elena. Since 1986 he has lived in Moscow where he continued his studies at the Russian Academy of Theatre Arts until 1990. From 1992 to 2000 he worked as an actor for film and theater.
In 2000 he began to work for the television station REN television and directed three episodes of the television series The Black Room.
In 2003, he directed his first feature film The Return, which received several awards, including a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. In 2008, he directed "Apocrypha", a short segment for the film New York, I Love You.
The segment was eventually cut from the film"s theatrical release but is included on the Digital Video Disc. for Leviathan. Leviathan received a Golden Globe for Best Foreign Language Film in 2015.
In 2015 he was a jury president of the 18th Shanghai International Film Festival.
He is mostly known for his 2003 film The Return, which won him a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. His most recent film Leviathan was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 2014. His second feature film The Banishment premiered at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for a Palme d"Or. His 2011 film, Elena, premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival, in the Un Certain Regard section, where it won the Jury Prize. His 2014 film Leviathan was selected to compete for the Palme d"Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival. Zvyagintsev won the award for Best Screenplay. As of January 2015, Leviathan has been nominated for the Academy Award for best Foreign Language Film.
