Tarkovsky is terrible: Sarik Andreasyan told students about cinema with obscenities

Russian-Armenian director, screenwriter and producer Sarik Andreasyan gave a lecture for students of the Moscow International Film School. The meeting ended in a scandal — Andreasyan left the audience without completing the lecture. A fragment of the video of the event was published by the telegram channel "Caution, news".

The dispute broke out after a question from one of the students about the author's cinema.

"A movie that is not made for the sake of money is not interesting for you?", the girl asked.

Andreasyan called the film "Anora" by Sean Baker, which won five Oscars, and at the same time is an independent film. The student retorted that "Anora" had also been to festivals.

"It's not about money, I'm not interested in marginal cinema. What do you want from me, why are you forcing me to watch this mess?", — the master began to get annoyed.

"You keep saying that you need to earn money. But the same Tarkovsky..", — the girl did not finish the question, because the lecturer interrupted her.

"I hate Tarkovsky," Andreasyan boldly declared, to the delight of the audience. — Tarkovsky is terrible. I hate auteur cinema, Tarkovsky is bad. If you invited me to discuss it, I'm not ready to discuss it. This is a degrading cinema, it was left 60 years ago, it was forgotten. If you want to be poor, finished, puking filmmakers, go...".

The students greeted the strong word of the lecturer with shouts and applause. The representative of the institution standing next to him could hardly resist pulling the director's sleeve.

"These are little kids, why did you call me, I've been doing this for 20 years, do you think I haven't watched all the nonsense you're talking about? This is my life and my choice. Dear, shoot a festival movie, call me, get it "Oscar"and surprise me, but you won't do it, because you don't understand what you're talking about," Andreasyan is sure.

"Guys, you just don't understand how everything works. You will grow up and one day you will understand everything. Go my way, (here again the director could not restrain himself, giving out an obscene word). Put on my shoes. It doesn't work that way. If you think that you are smarter than me and better than me, you are mistaken," Andreasyan said, already dressed in a coat.

Representatives of the college confirmed to the telegram channel the fact of a meeting between students and the director.

"There was a small incident, a dialogue with students was held on our part. It was not a public event, it was an initiative of specific people," said Acting director of the college Daniil Saxonov.

Recall that Andreasyan is now one of the most sought-after Russian directors. Every year he works not on one project, but on several at once. For example, last year he released the feature film "Onegin", as well as the TV series "Shadow of Chikatilo". In 2023, his projects were released on the screens: the five-part dramedy "I loved my husband", the film "In the sun, along a row of corn" and the TV series "Is it my fault?". Since 2009, Andreasyan has participated as a screenwriter, director and producer in more than 50 television and film projects, in more than 25 of them he acted as a director.