Aleksey Yuryevich German, a Soviet and Russian film director and screenwriter has passed away on the 75th year of his life. This information was reported by his son Aleksey German Jr this morning, on February 21.

      German was born in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) on June 20, 1938. He studied in the Leningrad State University of Music, Theatre and Cinematography, under Grigory Kozintsev until 1960, and then moved on to working in theatre before joining the Lenfilm studio as an assistant director. His first works on this position was a film "Rabochy Poselok" ("Labour Village") and a "Sedmoy Sputnik" (The Seventh Companion), co-directed with Grigory Aronov in 1967.

      As a main film director, German debuted with a film "Proverka na dorogakh" (Trial on the Road) in 1971, which made his famous. However, the film was banned for twenty five years and was "on the shelves" of the Ministry of Culture of the Soviet Union until its triumphal release during Gorbachev era.

      Over the course of his career, German had repeatedly met production difficulties over Soviet censorship because of the controversial themes he tried to express in his works, so he has managed to complete just five feature films: Sedmoy sputnik (The Seventh Companion), Dvadtsat dney bez voyny (Twenty Days Without War), Proverka na dorogakh (Trial on the Road), Moy drug Ivan Lapshin (My Friend Ivan Lapshin), Khrustalyov, mashinu! (Khrustalyov, My Car!). All these films are considered as unquestionable classics of the Soviet cinema.

      His sixth film "Trudno byt Bogom" (Hard to be a God), based on a 1964 novel by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, has been in production for over 20 years. Aleksey German expected to finally show the project of his life in 2013 or in 2014 years, but the sharp deterioration of his health has not let him to finish his work.

      

      Aleksey German's biography