Alexander Rodnyansky is one of Russia’s most important and prolific film producers having produced over 30 television series and 40 feature films including key works by some of the most accomplished filmmakers in Russian history. Born in Kiev, he began his career as a documentarian working on many acclaimed films including The Mission of Raoul Wallenberg (1990) and Last Farewell USSR (1994), which won the FIPRESCI Prize from the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival.
Following these early successes as a director, he quickly turned his talents to producing. His earliest success was as producer on A Chef in Love (1996). Directed by Nana Dzhordzhadze, it was the first time the Asia Pacific country of Georgia received an Academy Award® nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. Rodnyansky soon followed that as producer on East-West (1999), a co-production between Russia, France, Ukraine, Bulgaria and Spain that once again earned an Academy Award® nomination for Best Foreign Language Film, this time for France. In 2009, Rodnyansky founded AR Films, he co-owns the Non-Stop Production company, and has served as the President of Russia’s leading national film festival, Kinotavr, since 2004. Alongside television series, several significant films followed: The Sun (2005) from Russian auteur Aleksandr Sokurov won awards and competed for the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, Aleksandr Mindadze’s Innocent Saturday (2011) about the Chernobyl nuclear disaster also competed for the big prize in Berlin, and Fedor Bondarchuk’s Stalingrad (2013) was a Russian blockbuster that became the first film he produced to be selected to represent Russia at the Academy Awards®. In 2019 he produced Beanpole, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and was Russia’s official selection for the Best International Feature Film Academy Award®. For Beanpole, Rodnyansky received his second APSA nomination for Best Feature Film.
In 2011 he produced Elena, the first collaboration between Rodnyansky and director Andrey Zvyagintsev. Next came Leviathan (2014), which became an international sensation – it was an Academy Award® and BAFTA nominee for Best Foreign Language Film and won the same award at the Golden Globes™, along with 35 other awards from around the world. That success was followed up by Loveless, another Academy Award® and BAFTA nominee. All three won an APSA, as did Rodnyansky himself for producing Leviathan. Additionally, all won awards while in competition at the Cannes Film Festival. While he has continued to produce a blend of acclaimed Russian arthouse cinema like the award-winning documentary ¡Vivan las antípodas! (2011) and big budget fare like the IMAX-shot The Duellist (2016), Rodnyansky has also moved into American productions. He produced Jayne Mansfield’s Car (2012) for director Billy Bob Thornton, as well as Machete Kills (2013) and Robert Rodriguez’ Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014). He was also a co-producer on the adaptation of Cloud Atlas (2012) by the Wachowski siblings and Tom Tykwer. His most recent Russian feature, The Man Who Surprised Everyone (2018), premiered at the Venice Film Festival.
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