A “Tzar” comes to Certain Regard

For the first time in his career, Pavel Lounguine, laureate of the Director’s Prize in 1990 for Taxi Blues and a Special Mention for the whole cast of La Noce (2000), and President of the Caméra d’Or Jury in 2007, is discovering the honors of screening a film in Certain Regard with today’s presentation of Tzar. This particular tyrant is Ivan IV, alias Ivan the Terrible, whose iron fist reigned supreme in 16th-century Russia. A single man had the temerity to oppose him: his childhood friend, honest Filipp…

Pavel Lounguine believes that his film is relevant to current events: “It’s a metaphor for Russia itself. The difference today is that exercising the power does not result from any ideology: might is right. Yet, Tzar refers to the Stalin period, when there was no possible strategy for surviving, and people could disappear for no reason at all. Today, the situation remains difficult, but the survival strategy is clear: to respect the rules helps keeping one’s freedom, but there will always be different rules for those in power and for the people.”