May 8, 1946
Born in Leningrad Yuri Mamin — satirical director and television presenter. Author of the film "Window to Paris." He turns 79.
I create funny films in which I try to open the eyes of my compatriots to how they live
His mother, a theater scholar and lecturer in the theater arts department, raised her son alone.
He dreamed of becoming a composer since childhood, but broke his finger and missed the conservatory entrance exams. In 1969, he graduated from the directing department of the Leningrad University of Theatre, Music, and Cinema. He worked as a director at the Velikiye Luki Drama Theater and at the Lenconcert Theater.
In 1976, at 30, he came to Lenfilm as an assistant director. He studied under Eldar Ryazanov.
In 1986, at 40, he made his first film, a parody of Soviet heroic cinema, "Neptune's Holiday," about a Russian village unexpectedly visited by a Swedish delegation to see the local "walruses" and dive with them in an ice hole. The film won several prestigious film awards and became one of the first "perestroika" comedies.
After his success, Mamin was noticed and even invited to join the board of the Union of Cinematographers, but he refused.
I don't like management work. I got rid of it.
In 1988, he made the farcical comedy "Fountain," about a communal disaster in a single Leningrad "wreck." It was never officially released in the USSR.
Satire is poisonous, but its poison can cure very serious illnesses, both for individuals and for society as a whole. Look around—you'll laugh your head off!
In 1994, he made the triumphant film "Window to Paris," which became one of the symbols of perestroika—a fantastic story about how residents of a St. Petersburg communal apartment find themselves in Europe.
Previously, you raised builders of communism, now you raise builders of capitalism. And the result is the same: a cheapskate, an ignoramus, and a thief.
They built a lot of churches, but they don't believe in God.
You were born at the wrong time in an unfortunate and ruined country. But it is your country.
That same year, he staged the play “The Kremlin Chimes, or Come to Us in About a Year or So…” at the Liteiny Theatre, based on the play Arkady Tigay.
He hosted "Ot forte do piano," "Chameleon," and "Observatory" on Rossiya-1 (RTR). In the 2000s, he created the satirical television series "Russian Horror Stories," "Sancho s rancho," and the satirical magazine "Oskolki." He taught at St. Petersburg State University.
In 2006, at 60, he was beaten on the street by xenophobic teenagers for his "non-Russian face." He suffered a concussion.
In 2008, he made his last full-length film, "Don't Think About White Monkeys." After it was stolen by pirate sites and distributors refused to show it, he spent several years paying off his debts. He complained to Putin about the inaction of investigators (he was the chairman of the Cinematography Council), but the case was hushed up.
The mafia is a terrible thing, it ruined cinema
Since the mid-1910s, Mamin, in his opinion, ended up on the unofficial list of the “fifth column” – and with him, his projects.
In 2019, he emigrated to the United States due to censorship and a "de facto ban on the profession."
It's become impossible to breathe here. This isn't even the Stalin era, when you could at least treat the classics fairly. I'm one of those directors who cares what he's filming.
He created his own educational YouTube channel, "House of Culture," where he profiles prominent figures. He condemned Russia's actions in Ukraine and called "Z-artists and directors" war criminals.
The weeds that have been watered and fertilized during the Putin era have blossomed into a lush bloom.
The word "morality" seems obscene in Russia. It's now considered a swear word.
