Pavel Chukhrai

Pavel Grigoryevich Chukhray (Russian: Па́вел Григо́рьевич Чухра́й; Bykovo, Moscow Oblast, October 14, 1946) is a Russian screenwriter and film director. He is the son of the prominent Russian film director Grigory Chukhray.

He is best known for his film The Thief (1997), which was nominated for a Golden Globe and an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film^[1] and won the Nika Award for Best Picture and Best Directing. He is a People's Artist of Russia. He has been nominated and won numerous international prizes in Russia, Europe and the United States, including the Venice Film Festival.

Steven Spielberg invited Pavel Chukhray to participate in his project: “Broken Silence” (2002), an international documentary mini-series about the holocaust. The series consists of five foreign-language films featuring testimonies from Argentina, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Russia and directed by distinguished filmmakers from each of these countries. Pavel Chukhray directed the segment "Children from the Abyss," detailing the experience of Holocaust survivors and their resistance, betrayal, rescue, and the desire for revenge in this Russian-language documentary. The film series was subtitled into 11 languages (including English) and has aired on television in 18 countries worldwide.

In 2007, Chukhray adapted a novel by Nikolai Gogol to film, resulting in a production called The Russian Game, about an Italian card sharper who is hounded by creditors and travels to Russia to hustle some quick money. On his way, he meets a group of Russian gamblers that sympathize with his situation and agree to collaborate with him.

Pavel Grigoryevich Chukhray was born in Bykovo, Ramensky district, Moscow Oblast. His mother was a teacher—she taught Russian language and Literature. His father was the film director Grigory Chukhray. When Pavel was seven, his father began working at Dovzhenko Film Studios, and the family moved to Kiev. He grew up surrounded by family friends who were talented film makers, including Mark Donskoy, and the young and not yet well-known Sergei Parajanov, Aleksandr Alov, and Vladimir Naumov. When he was nine, Chukhray and his family moved to Moscow. At the age of 16, he began working for the Russian film studio Mosfilm. In 1964, he went to VGIK (All-Union State Institute of Cinematography) studying to become a cinematographer. He continued on to directing, receiving his diploma in 1974.

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