Georgi Daneliya was born on August 25, 1930 in Tbilisi, Georgia. Since
1939 the family lived in Moscow, where Danelia's father was the chief
engineer for the Moscow Underground Metro System. Daneliya's father
became a decorated WWII General, specializing in construction of
underground bunkers for the Soviet Government. His mother was a good
chess-player and later worked as a second unit director at Mosfilm.
Daneliya's mother's sister Veriko Anjaparidze was married to Mikheil Chiaureli, who was a
personal friend of Joseph Stalin. Daneliya first earned his architect's
degree from the Moscow Architecture Institute. Then he studied at the
Higher Director's Courses at Mosfilm under Mikhail Romm, and graduated in
1959, becoming a film director at the Mosfilm Studios in Moscow.
During the cultural "Thaw" initiated by Nikita Khrushchev Daneliya was at the
start of the Soviet "New Wave" in films. He had his first success
shared with Igor Talankin. Their film 'Seryozha' (1960) was awarded the
Crystal Globe in Karlovy Vary. He then worked with Gennady Shpalikov on a
propaganda-free project about life in Moscow. Censorship caused a few
obstacles by demanding changes to the plot and the script of 'Walking
the Streets of Moscow' (1963). It became a popular lyrical comedy with
a title hit song by Andrey Petrov. But soon Nikita Khrushchev was dismissed by Leonid Brezhnev
and the "Thaw" ended. Daneliya's brilliant comedy '33' (1965) was
labeled as anti-Soviet by the head of KGB Vladimir Semichastny, who wrote in a
secret letter to the Central Committee: "anti-Soviet...film '33' is an
attempt to discredit everything including the cosmonaut's flight."
Daneliya had to wait for 4 long years until he got a chance to work on
his next film. It was titled "Don't Grieve" - 'Ne Goryuy' (1969),
starring Vakhtang Kikabidze. His more careful, but masterful comedies 'Gentlemen
of Luck' (1972), 'Afonya' (1975), 'Mimino' (1977) continued his
successful career. A step beyond the comedy genre was made in his film
'Osenny Marafon' (1979). It's a melodrama about a man in his mid-life
crisis, torn between two women, and all three are trapped in the game
of lies and personal demands, amidst the stagnant Soviet reality.
His innovative film 'Kin-Dza-Dza' (1986) stands out as a genre of it's
own. Everything is different, yet very familiar in this metaphoric
film. New type of script with renown stars, new environment for and old
tale, new language for ancient wisdom. Daneliya created a universe of
allusions; It grows with a passage of time, while getting closer to our
future. He presented a fresh view of the human nature, and played with
reflections on his own life, the fate of a genius in a rigid society
going through inevitable changes.
Danelia is blessed with good friends and highly professional
collaborators. His first wife was actress Lyubov Sokolova (1921-2001) who
played 370 film roles and is listed in the Guinnes book of Records.
Their son Nikolai Daneliya (1958-1985) was a film director before his tragic
death. Danelia lives in Moscow and works on his new project, an
animation sequel to 'Kin-Dza-Dza'.
