38 Facts About Alexander Rodnyansky

1.

Alexander Yefymovych Rodnyansky is a Ukrainian film director, film producer, television executive and businessman.

2.

Alexander Rodnyansky won GQ Man of the Year three times.

3.

Alexander Rodnyansky is a member of the European Film Academy and Asia Pacific Screen Awards.

4.

Alexander Rodnyansky is a Member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, four of his films were nominated for an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category: Chief in Love, Est-Ouest, Leviathan and Loveless.

5.

Alexander Rodnyansky created Ukrainian TV network 1+1 and for seven years was the CEO of a Russian media company CTC Media.

6.

Alexander Rodnyansky was born in Kyiv to Jewish parents Efim Naumovich Fridman and Larisa Zinovyevna Rodnyanskaya.

7.

Alexander Rodnyansky's father Yefim Fridman was a senior engineer, while his mother Larisa Rodnyanskaya worked as a film producer and later was assigned director of the 'Kontakt'.

8.

Alexander's maternal grandfather Zinovy Rodnyansky was chief editor of the Ukrainian documentary film studios, his cousin Esfir Shub was a prominent Soviet director.

9.

Alexander Rodnyansky's cousin Boris Fuchsmann is a German media mogul and investor, he is the Vice-President of the World Jewish Congress and the President of Jewish Confederation of Ukraine.

10.

Alexander Rodnyansky's cousin once removed Lazar Rodnyansky was a Soviet engineer, laureate of the Lenin Prize for creation of the Myasishchev M-4 bomber.

11.

Alexander Rodnyansky graduated from Kyiv's National University of Film, Theatre and Television as a documentary director.

12.

Alexander Rodnyansky directed 10 feature short motion pictures which won him over 40 prestigious awards both at home and abroad.

13.

When Leonid Kuchma became the President, Alexander Rodnyansky returned to Ukraine.

14.

Alexander Rodnyansky served as CEO and was a co-owner of the company together with Central European Media Enterprises.

15.

Alexander Rodnyansky led CTC Media to become the first ever Russian media company with an IPO on NASDAQ.

16.

In 2002 the CTC Channel had a market value of approximately $40 million; when Alexander Rodnyansky left CTC Media in 2008, the company's market capitalization was over $4 billion; CTC doubled its audience share and became the fourth most popular channel in Russia.

17.

In Spring 2010 Alexander Rodnyansky bought majority share in Cinema Without Limits.

18.

In 2018 Alexander Rodnyansky announced the establishment of a new, Hollywood-based company AR Content to work on international projects.

19.

In 2011 Alexander Mindadze's film Innocent Saturday produced by Alexander Rodnyansky premiered in competition at the 61st Berlin International Film Festival.

20.

In 2012, Alexander Rodnyansky partnered with director Robert Rodriguez to produce a sequel to the 2010 film Machete, Machete Kills, and the cult 2005 film Sin City, Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller.

21.

Cloud Atlas, directed by The Wachowskis and Tom Tykwer, and co-produced by Alexander Rodnyansky, was released in 2012 in Russia by A Company and grossed $16.5 mln.

22.

In 2013 Alexander Rodnyansky produced with his partner Sergey Melkumov an epic war drama Stalingrad, directed by Fedor Bondarchuk.

23.

In 2014 Leviathan directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev and produced by Alexander Rodnyansky premiered in competition of 67th Cannes Film Festival.

24.

In 2016 Alexander Rodnyansky was invited to the Jury of the Camera d'Or program of the Cannes Film Festival.

25.

In 2017 Loveless directed by Andrey Zvyagintsev and produced by Alexander Rodnyansky premiered in competition of the 70th Cannes Film Festival.

26.

In 2018 The Man Who Surprised Everyone, directed by Aleksey Chupov and Natasha Merkulova and produced by Alexander Rodnyansky premiered at the 75th Venice International Film Festival.

27.

In 2019 Beanpole directed by Kantemir Balagov and produced by Alexander Rodnyansky premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.

28.

In 2021 Unclenching the Fists, directed by Kira Kovalenko and produced by Alexander Rodnyansky became the first Russian film in history to win the Grand Prix of Un Certain Regard program in Cannes.

29.

Alexander Rodnyansky holds a Ukrainian passport and has numerous friends and relatives in Ukraine, though his own family is Russian-speaking.

30.

Alexander Rodnyansky recalled that in 1995 Aleksei Balabanov explained this to him and that during the years of its independence, Ukraine did nothing to the Crimea.

31.

Alexander Rodnyansky was sure though, that a war between Russia and Ukraine is impossible.

32.

Alexander Rodnyansky gave multiple anti-war interviews to both film industry publications - Variety, Deadline and Screen International as well as international media.

33.

Alexander Rodnyansky turned his personal Instagram account into an anti-war media, documenting for his largely Russia-based audiences the atrocities of war in Ukraine, including the massacre of Bucha and other war crimes perpetrated by the Russian army.

34.

Jerusalem Post first reported that In the first hours of war Alexander Rodnyansky was instrumental in getting a Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich to help broker a peace process.

35.

Alexander Rodnyansky speaks up publicly not only against the war and the Putin regime, he published an opinion piece in Financial Times urging the West not to isolate Russians, who oppose Putin, who were either forced to leave the country or trapped under Putin's regime.

36.

On October 21,2022 Alexander Rodnyansky was declared to be a "foreign agent" by the Russian Ministry of Justice.

37.

Alexander Rodnyansky is married to Valeria Rodnyansky, the couple have a daughter, Ellen, and a son, Alexander.

38.

In 2019, Alexander Rodnyansky Junior was assigned Principal Economics Advisor of Ukrainian government.