November 17 is 100th birthday of Ivan Pyryev, actor and director

Pyryev's cinema career began as early as in 1925, in the era of the "great silent". In his first satire comedy pictures Stranger Woman and Bureaucrat influence of Pyryev's illustrious actor's past was well sensed. Pyryev had acted under directing of such geniuses as Eizenshtein and Meyerkhold. In 1933 Pyryev shot an anti-Nazist picture Death Conveyor; in three years, his widely known at that time Party Membership Card was due. Coeval of the twentieth century, Pyryev added to Russian cinema's history pictures that became symbols of Soviet era: the Tractorists, the Pigsty Girl and Shepherd, the Tale of Siberian Land, the Kuban Cossacks. His authentic view of life and contemporaries, somewhat elevated and even romantic, aroused love and respect of millions' audience throughout generations. Screening Fyodor Dostoyevski's books unveiled new and unexpected aspects of the director's talent. Pictures Idiot, White Nights are considered to have no match in the level of cinema apprehension and depth of embracing Dostoyevski's art. Brothers Karamazov was even made a nominee for the famous prize of American Cinema Academy, Oscar. A whole new generation of cinema artists owes a lot to Pyryev who had worked as a manager of Mosfilm cinema studio for several years. He elevated Georgy Chukhrai, Georgy Danelia, Eldar Ryazanov to the heights of Russian cinema. Great was his contribution to creating the Union of Cinema Artists. As an organizer of creative process, Pyryev was dubbed "breaker of peace who helped the truth be born in a dispute."