How World-Class Filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev Came Back to Life for ‘Minotaur’
Andrey Zvyagintsev, the acclaimed Russian filmmaker, returned to Cannes with his new film 'Minotaur' after recovering from a severe illness. He faced significant health challenges following a COVID infection and subsequent complications, which left him paralyzed for a year. Despite these obstacles, he managed to complete his first film in nearly a decade, adapting a classic thriller while living in Paris due to the political climate in Russia.
- ▪Andrey Zvyagintsev was in a medically induced coma for 14 days after contracting COVID-19 and reacting badly to the Sputnik vaccine.
- ▪He was paralyzed for a year due to Guillain-Barré Syndrome but has since regained some mobility.
- ▪Zvyagintsev's new film 'Minotaur' is his first release since 2017's 'Loveless' and was shot outside of Russia.
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World-class Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev (“Leviathan”) returned to the Croisette this year in Cannes competition with “Minotaur,” having recovered from a near-fatal illness. After contracting a severe case of COVID in 2021, he reacted badly to the Sputnik vaccine and was put into a medically induced coma for 14 days. When he came out of it, his arms and legs were paralyzed due to Guillain-Barré Syndrome. He lay flat on his back for a year. When he left the hospital in Germany in 2022, as he told me while at Cannes this year, he was in a wheelchair. While he says he hasn’t watched TV for 20 years now, “I watched a lot of films online,” he said through an interpreter on the roof of the Palais. “I read some things.
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