The House of Cinema said goodbye to director Alexander Khvan: his sons could not come

On September 20, at the House of Cinema in Moscow, they said goodbye to film director Alexander Khvan, who directed the films “Dyuba-Dyuba”, “Carmen”, “Good Rubbish, Bad Rubbish”, “Dying is Easy”, the TV series “Shatun”, “Realtor”, “Maryina Roshcha” ” He died on September 17 in a hospice at the age of 66.

The farewell took place in the foyer of the White Hall of the House of Cinema, where Alexander loved in the past, when he was still cheerful and healthy, to meet with colleagues and friends. This is a sacred place for filmmakers. Now a coffin has been installed here. And in the White Hall, half an hour before the funeral ceremony, they started a film where Alexander himself talked about himself, his comrades shared their memories, showed fragments of his films, acting works, and he mostly played the Chinese. His father is Korean, so his son had the appropriate appearance. Hwang himself said: “Almost every role I play is Chinese.” And his “Asian life” in cinema began with “Giselle Mania” by Alexei Uchitel. There Alexander played a character who was called the Chinese. The producer of the film, Kira Saksaganskaya-Teacher, came to say goodbye to the actor.

Due to a long illness and lung damage, which even forced Alexander to be put into an artificial coma, he was weakened and became helpless in everyday life. He spent some time in the House of Cinema Veterans, then assistance was provided by one of the foundations that supports actors and artists. Communication with some close people has been severed in recent difficult years.

His sister Elena Khvan, Alexander’s second wife, came to see off Alexander Khvan on his last journey. Their 17-year-old son could not come from St. Petersburg for some reason, and the eldest lives in Seoul, where it is a big problem to get out of. Only my granddaughter came. Elena Khvan believes that a person leaves when his life cycle ends, when he has done everything he could. And that’s why Sasha left. They often talked to him about this topic. This is their general view of life and death.

Alexander’s wife wrote down her text in advance, because she was afraid of not mentioning the most important thing out of excitement. “We were Sasha and Sasha, and it made everyone incredibly happy,” she said during her farewell. – Sasha immediately began to introduce me as his wife, which was a complete surprise for me. Although I knew that someday I would become one. There was a lot of mystical and wonderful things in our relationship. Miracle is generally one of the key words for Sasha and our life. Our very meeting and the birth of our son is a miracle. Sasha was a believer. Sasha, now you have to meet Stanislaw Lem and Thomas Mann, whom you loved so much. You will meet Schubert…”

Alexander Khvan graduated from VGIK in 1980, during the Brezhnev years, as he himself specified. His masters were Lev Kulidzhanov and Tatyana Lioznova. And then he worked as a second director for eight years, including on the film “Carnival” by Lioznova. There was no hope of making my own movie, but I gained experience. The 90s were the time of its rise. It was in those years that MK published a whole page devoted to the problems of modern cinema, where Alexander Khvan became one of the speakers. He later gave interviews, told us about his departed colleagues, and did it sincerely, without stock phrases. One of his fellow students at VGIK recalled that Hvan was 18 years old when he entered the workshop of Kulidzhanov and Lioznova. Back then, this was a rarity in the directing department. Hwang turned out to be the youngest. He lived only when he worked. Large gaps between paintings played a role. He felt bad and was out of breath, but if he had worked, as his colleagues assured him, he could have lived longer. “The only question for Sasha is: “Why did you leave so early?” – these were the words his classmates saw off on his last journey. They remembered that he was unmercenary, he had nothing – no apartments, no cars. All thoughts were connected with new projects.

His film “Dyuba-Dyuba” with Oleg Menshikov in the title role was included in the competition at the Cannes Film Festival in the early 90s. Actors rarely see off directors who meant a lot to them. Only the beautiful Evgenia Kryukova, who starred with Hwang in the series “Maryina Roshcha,” came. She said that he was a very modest, touching, shy person, very careful in communicating with people, and treated them with care. Evgenia brought a bouquet of dark roses, quietly said goodbye, made no speeches, and quickly left.

Director Murad Aliyev was not only a colleague, but also a close friend of Alexander. “Sasha played a Chinese guy for me in “The Hunt for Piranha.” I have never met such a subtle and poetic soul of a person. He revealed things that you had been thinking about in the back of your mind. “Carmen” and “Dyuba-Dyuba” are classics of Russian cinema,” he said at the coffin.

Producer Vladimir Ignatiev recalled: “We made simple series together. This was not enough for Sasha. He wanted to do something more serious. But times are different, and TV series helped him exist. He and I are bespectacled. And Sasha said: “I see poorly, but I hear well, so I will control the music myself. On “Carmen” he worked with Gennady Gladkov, and the music was recorded with a symphony orchestra under the direction of Sergei Skripka. This is now a rarity.” The producer of the series “Shatun” Ruben Dishdishyan also came to say goodbye. He didn’t make any speeches, but the very fact that he came is worth a lot. The relationship appears to have been difficult. The film was edited by someone other than Hwang.

Director and producer Sergei Chliyants became the last cinematographer in Hwang’s life, with whom he worked on a film whose title is still being specified. It was filmed according to the script of Pyotr Lutsik and Alexey Samoryadov, just like “Dyuba-Dyuba” once was. Sergei Chliyants recalled 1992, when they met: “Then Sasha’s film was accepted into the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and mine was accepted into Un Certain Regard.” As a producer, I worked with him on four films. He changed my life so much that I was even angry with him. Sasha could radically change the lives of loved ones. Because of him, I realized what kind of director I am. He is the director, and I am the producer. Now that I have returned to directing and am finishing the film, Sasha has left us. He worked on my picture as a music producer; he no longer stood up, only stood up slightly. He asked me to bring him some smoke and a cake. I brought it. He ordered to cut the cake and eat. He couldn’t do it himself, he said that he would watch me eat it. How far we have gone with him! How many times have we gone to gang fights? Sasha borrowed money and could not return it on time, and we were beaten for this. There are only seven people who created the face of Russian cinema. He is one of them.”

As film critic and producer Vyacheslav Shmyrov correctly noted, Hwang was a man of cinema, not of TV series. He had a gentle soul and inner freedom. He was not punchy, did not push with his elbows, so it was difficult for him to live in harsh times.

In response to the words of his colleagues that Hwang was a gifted director who was not given much time to work, teacher and director Vladimir Fenchenko reacted unexpectedly: “They said that Sasha didn’t shoot enough. He filmed a lot. Check out his filmography. Another question is whether he wanted to film what he filmed? But he didn’t film everything that was offered to him. I didn’t make propaganda films. He’s not unhappy at all. He had several talents. He wrote interesting poetry, was a musician, and this is a completely different type of art. Who is Leonardo da Vinci’s profession? Genius. It’s not easy to combine different talents.”

After the farewell, a funeral service took place in the Church of the Ascension of the Lord at the Nikitsky Gate. The relatives have not yet decided in which cemetery the ashes will be buried after cremation.