Elyor Ishmukhamedov

Elyor Ishmukhamedov (Elyor Muhitdinovich Ishmuhamedov) was born on 1 May 1942 in Tashkent. He studied directing at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow, in the workshop of Yuri Genika. As a student he made the short film “The Date”, and his graduation work was “Tenderness”.

From 1965 to 1989 he worked as a director at the Uzbekfilm studio. His debut feature “Tenderness” (1966) received the State Prize of the Uzbek SSR, a silver prize and the best-director award at the Asian film week in Frankfurt, and prizes at the Locarno and Pesaro festivals. It began his collaboration with the screenwriter Odelsha Agishev.

“The Lovers” (1969), from a script by Agishev, follows three young friends in Tashkent; its cast included Anastasia Vertinskaya, Rodion Nakhapetov and Rustam Sagdullaev. It was one of the box-office leaders of Soviet cinemas and won the best-director prize at the All-Union film festival in Minsk. In 1969 Ishmukhamedov was named Honoured Artist of the Uzbek SSR. He went on to make “Meetings and Partings” (1973), “Birds of Our Hopes” (1976) and “What Are Our Years!” (1980), as well as the documentaries “Cycle Race” and “There Is a Little River in Tashkent”.

“The Youth of a Genius” (1982), about the youth of Ibn Sina, written by Ishmukhamedov and Agishev, received the USSR State Prize (1984). In 1983 the director became People’s Artist of the Uzbek SSR, and for “Farewell, Green Summer…” (1985) he received the Hamza State Prize of the Uzbek SSR (1986). His film “Shock” appeared in 1989.

From 1996 he taught directing and editing in Moscow. In Russia he made “The Heiresses” (2001), “The Lovers 2” (2004), “The Heiresses 2” (2005), “The Bride” (2006), the series “MUR” (2011) and other films and series, and produced “The Lovers 2” himself. In 2013 he was named Honoured Art Worker of the Russian Federation.

Ishmukhamedov is a corresponding member of the National Academy of Cinematographic Arts and Sciences of Russia. Since 2013 he has led, with Agishev, a screenwriting workshop at the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters and Directors, and since 2019 he has been master of an acting course at the Rostov branch of VGIK.