Editing Andrei Tarkovsky (section)

===Film career in the Soviet Union===
Tarkovsky's first feature film was ''[[Ivan's Childhood]]'' in 1962. He had inherited the film from director Eduard Abalov, who had to abort the project. The film earned Tarkovsky international acclaim and won the [[Golden Lion]] award at the [[Venice Film Festival]] in the year 1962. In the same year, on 30 September, his first son Arseny (called Senka in Tarkovsky's diaries) Tarkovsky was born.
[[File:Tarkovsky vgik.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Monument to Andrei Tarkovsky at entrance of [[Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography]]]]
In 1965, he directed the film ''[[Andrei Rublev (film)|Andrei Rublev]]'' about the life of [[Andrei Rublev]], the fifteenth-century Russian [[icon painter]]. ''Andrei Rublev'' was not, except for a single screening in Moscow in 1966, immediately released after completion due to problems with Soviet authorities. Tarkovsky had to cut the film several times, resulting in several different versions of varying lengths. The film was widely released in the Soviet Union in a cut version in 1971. Nevertheless, the film had a budget of more than 1 million rubles – a significant sum for that period.<ref name=latgale>{{cite web |url=https://latgale.academy/censorships-impact-on-tarkovskys-movies/ |title=Censorship's impact on Tarkovsky's movies |access-date=26 July 2019 |work=latgale.academy}}</ref> A version of the film was presented at the [[Cannes Film Festival]] in 1969 and won the [[International Federation of Film Critics|FIPRESCI prize]].

He divorced his wife, Irina, in June 1970. In the same year, he married [[Larisa Tarkovskaya|Larisa Kizilova]] (née Egorkina), who had been a production assistant for the film ''[[Andrei Rublev (film)|Andrei Rublev]]'' (they had been living together since 1965). Their son, Andrei Andreyevich Tarkovsky, (nicknamed Andriosha, meaning "little Andre" or "Andre Junior") was born in the same year on 7 August.{{sfn|Gianvito|2006|page=xxv}}

In 1972, he completed ''[[Solaris (1972 film)|Solaris]]'', an adaptation of the novel ''[[Solaris (novel)|Solaris]]'' by [[Stanisław Lem]]. He had worked on this together with screenwriter [[Friedrich Gorenstein]] as early as 1968. The film was presented at the [[Cannes Film Festival]], won the [[Grand Prix (Cannes Film Festival)|Grand Prix Spécial du Jury]], and was nominated for the [[Palme d'Or]].

From 1973 to 1974, he shot the film ''[[Mirror (1975 film)|Mirror]]'', a highly autobiographical and unconventionally structured film drawing on his childhood and incorporating some of his father's poems. In this film Tarkovsky portrayed the plight of childhood affected by war. Tarkovsky had worked on the screenplay for this film since 1967, under the consecutive titles ''Confession'', ''White day'' and ''A white, white day''. From the beginning the film was not well received by Soviet authorities due to its content and its perceived elitist nature. Soviet authorities placed the film in the "third category", a severely limited distribution, and only allowed it to be shown in third-class cinemas and workers' clubs. Few prints were made and the film-makers received no returns. Third category films also placed the film-makers in danger of being accused of wasting public funds, which could have serious effects on their future productivity.<ref>Marshall, Herbert. ''Sight and Sound''. Vol 45, no 2. Spring 1976. p. 93.</ref> These difficulties are presumed to have made Tarkovsky play with the idea of going abroad and producing a film outside the Soviet film industry.<ref>{{cite book |last=Tarkovsky |first=Andrei |author2=translated by Kitty Hunter-Blair |title=Time Within Time: The Diaries 1970-1986 |publisher=Seagull Books |year=1991 |location=[[Calcutta]] |isbn=978-81-7046-083-1|title-link=Time Within Time: The Diaries 1970-1986}}</ref>

During 1975, Tarkovsky also worked on the screenplay ''[[Hoffmanniana]]'', about the German writer and poet [[E. T. A. Hoffmann]]. In December 1976, he directed ''[[Hamlet]]'', his only stage play, at the [[Lenkom Theatre]] in Moscow. The main role was played by [[Anatoly Solonitsyn]], who also acted in several of Tarkovsky's films. At the end of 1978, he also wrote the screenplay ''Sardor'' together with the writer Aleksandr Misharin.

The last film Tarkovsky completed in the Soviet Union was ''[[Stalker (1979 film)|Stalker]]'', inspired by the novel ''[[Roadside Picnic]]'' by the brothers [[Arkady and Boris Strugatsky]]. Tarkovsky had met the brothers first in 1971 and was in contact with them until his death in 1986. Initially he wanted to shoot a film based on their novel ''[[Dead Mountaineer's Hotel]]'' and he developed a raw script. Influenced by a discussion with Arkady Strugatsky he changed his plan and began to work on the script based on ''Roadside Picnic''. Work on this film began in 1976. The production was mired in troubles; improper development of the negatives had ruined all the exterior shots. Tarkovsky's relationship with cinematographer [[Georgy Rerberg]] deteriorated to the point where he hired [[Alexander Knyazhinsky]] as a new first cinematographer. Furthermore, Tarkovsky had a heart attack in April 1978, resulting in further delay. The film was completed in 1979 and won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury at the [[Cannes Film Festival]]. In a question and answer session at the [[Edinburgh Filmhouse]] on 11 February 1981, Tarkovsky trenchantly rejected suggestions that the film was either impenetrably mysterious or a political [[allegory]].<ref>''Stalker: Andrei Tarkovsky Talking'', in Bold, Christine (ed.), ''[[Cencrastus]]'' No. 5, Summer 1981, pp. 12 & 13.</ref>

<!--In 1979, Tarkovsky began production of the film ''The First Day'' (Russian: Первый День ''Pervyj Dyen''), based on a script by his friend and long-term collaborator [[Andrei Konchalovsky]]. The film was set in 18th-century Russia during the reign of [[Peter the Great]] and starred [[Natalya Bondarchuk]] and [[Anatoli Papanov]]. To get the project approved by [[State Committee for Cinematography|Goskino]], Tarkovsky submitted a script that was different from the original script, omitting several scenes that were critical of the [[Religion in the Soviet Union|official atheism in the Soviet Union]]. After shooting roughly half of the film the project was stopped by Goskino after it became apparent that the film differed from the script submitted to the censors. Tarkovsky was reportedly infuriated by this interruption and destroyed most of the film.<ref name=ReferenceB>{{cite book|script-title=ru:Мир и фильмы Андрея Тарковского. Сост. А. Сандлер. |trans-title=Andey Tarkovsky's world and films |publisher=Iskusstvo(Искусство) |year=1990 |location=Moscow |isbn=978-81-7046-083-1 |language=ru}}</ref>-->