Konstantin Seliverstov
- Director
- Writer
- Producer
Konstantin Seliverstov (born November 3rd 1963 in Leningrad) is a Russian film director, cameraman, actor, and writer. Konstantin Seliverstov was born into a family of professional musicians. He graduated from ENGECON university in 1985, specializing in economics, but soon chose a literary career over a economics. In 1989 he completed a screenwriting course at Lenfilm Studio. In 1990 he began working at the journal"Literator". In 1992-1994 he was deputy editor-in-chief of the journal "Peterburgsky Literator". For several years he was a literature critic for Radio Russia. He made his first feature comedy film, "Mozart in Petersburg" in 1997. He was the writer, director, camera operator and sound designer of the film. In 1999 he founded the "Sylvester Production" film production company and adapted for screen his own ironic novellas about the life and adventures of the Saint-Petersburg Bohemia on the screen - "I'm Experienced in Love and Pure Art". The novellas were later printed as a collection of selected prose under the same title. In the production of this film Konstantin Seliverstov established a circle of actors that would appear in many of his later works. The actors almost played themselves: choreographer Vladimir Tyminskiy, architect Nikolay Palachyov, painter-stylist Sergey Chernov, actor Yuriy Zelkin etc. A year later Seliverstov made a satirical dystopian film called "The Martian Chronicles" . This film brought its maker First Prize of the Moscow International Independent Film Festival "To Love Cinema" In 2001 the adventures of the unfit intellectuals continued in the "I'm Experienced in Love and Pure Art 2" and "Demons" in 2002. The author defined the film as an "ironic thriller". A 2003 improvised philosophical comedy "Adjacent Rooms" attracted the attention of audiences, press and critics of the "To Love Cinema" festival. The filmmaker's 92-year old grandmother, Cecilia Seliverstova,was awarded the prize for Best Female Role.
The movie "Christine de Gransi in St Petersburg" was filmed for the Austrian consulate. A German TV channel ran a retrospective of his work. In Russia his movies were broadcast by three stations.His selected literary works were printed in 2005 under the name "I'm experienced in Love and Pure Art". At the same time Konstantin continued his creative experiments, making "Fearless she-Terrorist Fighters", a short movie combining live action scenes with flash animation, and "The Dentist: A story of a Killer", a short mockumentary thriller. In 2008 Selivestov made his first screen adaptation of a classical literary work - Henri Murger's "Scenes de la Vie de Boheme". The action was set in contemporary Saint-Petersburg. The film was awarded the Grand Prix of "Pure Dreams" International Independant Film Festival in 2008 in Saint-Petersburg. In 2009, "Scenes de la Vie de Boheme" was shown in the official selection of the 31st Moscow International Film Festival. 2008 - Konstantin is the author and the host of a TV series about the world's great movie directors on Saint-Petersburg station "VOT" . In the same year he made a documentary series on Saint-Petersburg's public organizations and their social projects for the St. Petersburg branch of the Russian Federation Civic Chamber. Tamara Almametova and Dmitry Generalov filmed a documentary about him titled "Cinema Made of Air, Light and other Rubbish".
In 2009 he films a two-actor short titled "Desire Burning in the Blood" ( a poem by Pushkin) and a feature-length fantasy after Gogol's "Marriage".
"Marriage" represented Russia in the main competition of the "Tomorrow" International Film Festival in Moscow. In 2010, "Scenes de la Vie de Boheme" participated in Madrid International Film Festival and in the 16th All-Russian Festival "Literature and Cinema". The next film by Seliverstov, "Wild Strawberries" was released in the same year. It was shown on the 33rd Moscow International Film Festival in June 2011 and the "2-in-1" Moscow Festival in October 2010. It was awarded the special jury award of the "Pure Dreams" International Independant Film Festival in Saint-Petersburg in 2010. Yekaterina Kleopina, actress in the MDT "Theatre of Europe" and holder of the "Golden Soffit" Petersburg theatre award, played the leading role. His next work, "Women: the Art of Seduction", was completed in 2011. Seliverstov's new book, titled "12 and a Half, or My Life in Pure Art" was published in 2011 in the 7th and 8th issues of the "Volga" journal. The "Une Belle Epoque" (The Magnificent Age) film participated in the "2-in-1" Moscow International Film Festival in October 2011. It was awarded the Grand Prix of the "Pure Dreams" festival that took place 10th-13th November 10th 2011 in the St Petersburg film house. In May 2012 "Scenes de la Vie de Boheme" represented Russian cinema at the international film festival in Madrid.
In 2012 the film "Men: the Art of Seduction" was made. The Trial, a film version of Franz Kafka's novel of the same name was premiered 2014.