Director Andrei Tarkovsky's second film, ANDREI RUBLEV, is a massive and sweeping retelling of the life of the 15th-century Russian icon painter and perhaps the first great Russian artist. Unfolding in a free-flowing series of eight episodes, ANDREI RUBLEV follows the painter (Anatoli Solonitsyn) as he faces unbearable violence, endless attacks by the crude and malicious Tartars, and, eventually, a crippling crisis of faith. A moving mosaic of time, spirituality, dreams, history, culture, and politics, Tarkovsky's masterpiece was immediately condemned by the Russian authorities, who waited five years before giving it an official release. Despite this, the film endures as a wrenching testament to Tarkovsky's unique vision of the power of art and the duty of the artist. The film follows Rublev as he traverses the wretched earth of Russia in the Middle Ages, encountering jesters, fools, other artists, and the masses who eventually restore his faith in life and art. Tarkovsky's signature elliptical style, matched with stunning cinematography and breathtaking (and often nonnarrative) editing, creates a film unlike any other. Neither strict biography nor historical epic, ANDREI RUBLEV is the visual depiction of the mystical capacity for art to transform the struggles and joys of the human into the divine.

ANDREI RUBLEV is a vast, free-form fresco of life in 15th-century Russia under the reign of Tartar invaders, beautifully composed and photographed by director Andrei Tarkovsky.

Produced in 1965.

Although the film was financed by the state-run Mosfilm company, upon completion the work was banned in the Soviet Union.

Additional credits: L. Petrov (art director); L. Zelentsova (sound); L. Fejghinova, T. Jegoryceva, O. Scevkunenko (editors); L. Novl, M. Abar-Baronovskaja (costumes); E. Korabljov (set decorator); and T. Ogorodnikova (production manager).

DVD Features:

Region 1 Encoding
Keep Case
The Definitive 205-Minute Director's Cut
Screen-Specific Audio Essay by Harvard Film Professor Vlada Petric
Rare Film Interviews with Andrei Tarkovsky, With a Video Essay on the Filmmaker's Work by Professor Petric
A Timeline Featuring Key Events in Russian History, Plus the Lives And Works of Andrei Rublev and Tarkovsky.

Anatoli Solonitsyn: Russian actor featured in many Tarkovsky pictures
Ivan Lapikov: Russian Actor/"A. Rublev"
Nikolai Grinko: Russian Actor
Irma Raush: 

Andrei Tarkovsky: Russian director

Tamara Ogorodnikova: 

Lyuba Fejginova: 
O. Shevkunenko: 
Tatyana Yegorychyova: 

"...There are many magnificent moments..."
"...An adventure in images of hypnotic beauty....Soaring and majestic..." -- Critic's Choice