34 Facts About Kirill Serebrennikov

Kirill Semyonovich Serebrennikov is a Russian stage and film director and theatre designer.

Kirill Serebrennikov is one of Russia's leading theatre and cinema directors and winner of numerous international awards.

Media, international cultural community and human rights activists unanimously considered the case politically motivated and fabricated because Serebrennikov was known for his liberal and LGBT-friendly stances that opposes Russian official conservative positions.

In June 2020, Kirill Serebrennikov was sentenced guilty and given three years of probation.

Kirill Serebrennikov was born in Rostov-on-Don, Russian SFSR to a Jewish father and a Ukrainian mother.

Kirill Serebrennikov's father, Semyon Mikhailovich Serebrennikov was a surgeon, while his mother, Iryna Oleksandrivna Lytvyn was a teacher of Russian language and literature.

Kirill Serebrennikov had no formal theatre education prior to his stage director debut in 1994.

Kirill Serebrennikov's grandfather Alexander Ivanovich Litvin was a film director and screenwriter, he worked at Moldova-Film in and was titled an Honored Culture Worker of the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Kirill Serebrennikov studied at the math school, in the 8th grade he established his own student theater and staged a play called 'Shadow'.

Kirill Serebrennikov made his first steps as a professional director as early as in 1990.

Kirill Serebrennikov has staged 'Plastilin' at the Centre of Drama and Directing.

Kirill Serebrennikov has been active in opera staging productions for the Mariinsky Theatre, and the Bolshoi Theatre in Russia, where he has been a stage director and a designer for a ballet, Komische Oper Berlin and Stuttgart Opera in Germany.

For several years Kirill Serebrennikov's career flourished under the patronage of "grey cardinal" Vladislav Surkov, the Putin aide who developed the notion of Russia's "sovereign democracy": he even directed a stage version of a novel that Surkov wrote under a pseudonym.

In 2006 Kirill Serebrennikov became an art director of the 'Territory' International Festival.

Kirill Serebrennikov's productions have been presented at the Wiener Festwochen, and the Avignon Theatre Festival.

Kirill Serebrennikov's films have been screened at Cannes Film Festival, Locarno Film Festival, Rome Film Festival, and the Warsaw International Film Festival where his film Yuri's Day received the Grand Prix.

In 2009 Kirill Serebrennikov launched the Platforma art incubator, a platform that supported theatre projects around Russia.

In 2011 Kirill Serebrennikov staged Rimsky-Korsakov's 'The Golden Cockerel' for the Bolshoi.

Under Kirill Serebrennikov it evolved into the world-renowned center of liberal art.

Zhenya Berkovich, one of Kirill Serebrennikov's students, staged one of the first plays at the Gogol Centre.

For TV, Kirill Serebrennikov directed more than 100 commercials, two documentaries, 11 music videos and three TV series.

Kirill Serebrennikov had criticised the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea and has spoken out in support of Russia's LGBT community.

On 22 August 2017, Kirill Serebrennikov was detained by the Investigative Committee of Russia, suspected of masterminding a fraud scheme involving a state subsidy of almost 129 million rubles the Seventh Studio received from the government of Russia for the 'Platforma' project from 2011 to 2014.

Colleagues told the media that Kirill Serebrennikov was hated by many officials for his views.

Kirill Serebrennikov was required to pay a fine of 800,000 roubles.

In February 2021, Kirill Serebrennikov was fired from the Gogol Centre.

On November 12,2021, Kirill Serebrennikov repaid 129 mln roubles claimed as compensation by the Culture Ministry.

On March 28,2022, the court canceled the suspended sentence taking into account that all financial damage was repaid and Kirill Serebrennikov received a positive profile during his term.

The travel ban was lifted and Kirill Serebrennikov was able to leave Russia.

Kirill Serebrennikov worked fruitfully even during the home arrest: he watched videos from rehearsals, recorded the comments and sent them to cast with the help of his lawyers.

Kirill Serebrennikov opposed the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine, leading to first the temporary, then permanent cancellation of Nureyev.

In March 2022 Kirill Serebrennikov was chosen to open the 76th Festival d'Avignon.

In May 2022 Kirill Serebrennikov became the only Russian director to participate in the Cannes Film Festival with his film Tchaikovsky's Wife.

Author, screenwriter, playwright, stage and film director, professor of theatre, inventor of innovative solutions in scenography, architect of new theatre spaces, teacher and instructor, Kirill Serebrennikov is the artistic director of the Gogol Centre, Moscow, where he teaches at the School of Theatre Arts.