Ivan's Childhood

Ivan's Childhood
Иваново детство
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAndrei Tarkovsky
Screenplay by
Based onIvan
by Vladimir Bogomolov
Starring
CinematographyVadim Yusov
Edited byLyudmila Feiginova
Music byVyacheslav Ovchinnikov
Production
company
Release date
  • 6 April 1962 (1962-04-06)
Running time
94 minutes[1]
CountrySoviet Union
LanguageRussian

Ivan's Childhood (Russian: Ива́ново де́тство, romanized: Ivanovo detstvo), sometimes released as My Name Is Ivan in the US, is a 1962 Soviet war drama film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Co-written by Mikhail Papava, Andrei Konchalovsky and an uncredited Tarkovsky, it is based on Vladimir Bogomolov's 1957 short story "Ivan".[2][3] The film features child actor Nikolai Burlyayev along with Valentin Zubkov, Evgeny Zharikov, Stepan Krylov, Nikolai Grinko, and Tarkovsky's then wife Irma Raush.

Ivan's Childhood tells the story of orphaned boy Ivan, whose parents were killed by the invading German forces, and his experiences during World War II. Ivan's Childhood was one of several Soviet films of its period, such as The Cranes Are Flying and Ballad of a Soldier, that looked at the human cost of war and did not glorify the war experience as did films produced before the Khrushchev Thaw.[4] In a 1962 interview, Tarkovsky stated that in making the film he wanted to "convey all [his] hatred of war", and that he chose childhood "because it is what contrasts most with war."[5]

Ivan's Childhood was Tarkovsky's first feature film. It won him critical acclaim and made him internationally known. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival, both in 1962. The film was also selected as the Soviet entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 36th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.[6] Famous filmmakers such as Ingmar Bergman, Sergei Parajanov and Krzysztof Kieślowski praised the film and cited it as an influence on their work.[7]

  1. ^ "IVAN'S CHILDHOOD (A)". British Board of Film Classification. 29 November 1963. Retrieved 19 February 2016.
  2. ^ Peter Rollberg (2009). Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema. US: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 306–307. ISBN 978-0-8108-6072-8.
  3. ^ "Богомолов Владимир Осипович. Иван" [Bogomolov Vladímir Osipovich Iván]. lib.ru (in Russian).
  4. ^ Vida T. Johnson (2007). "Life as a Dream" (DVD). The Criterion Collection.
  5. ^ John Gianvito (2006). Andrei Tarkovsky. Conversations with Filmmakers Series. University Press of Mississippi. p. 3. ISBN 1-57806-220-9. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  6. ^ Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
  7. ^ Daly, Fergus; Waugh, Katherine (12 June 2015). "Ivan's Childhood". Senses of Cinema. Retrieved 24 May 2018.