Actor, critic, director - new winners of the Brodsky on Ischia Prize

ROME. The winners of the Brodsky on Ischia Prize became known on the poet’s birthday.

Ischia Island in the Neapolitan Riviera, where the volcano once “bubbled,” was a special place for Joseph Brodsky. In the villa of his friend, a professor at the University of Milan, theater expert Fausto Malkovatti, he spent several weeks at different times, inspiring him to wonderful poetic lines. The last time he visited was with his family shortly after the birth of his daughter Anna.

Over the short period of existence of the award (since 2013), established by the Ministry of Culture of Italy, the Ischia Friends Association and the Luchino Visconti Foundation, its owners were poets, actors, journalists, and musicians, who contributed to strengthening mutual understanding between the two countries. In the works of most of them, Brodsky’s theme was voiced. The result - resonant films, books, song cycles, television shows.

On May 24, new laureates were announced: director Andrei Khrzhanovsky, actor and artist Lev Prygunov, literary critic and critic Natalya Ivanova. The painting “One and a half rooms” by Khrzhanovsky, still remains one of the most piercing films dedicated to the poet and the tragic story of his parents. The expulsion of the poet from the country turned into eternal separation. The cartoon parable “Lion with a gray beard”, created by Khrzhanovsky in collaboration with Tonino Guerra and Sergey Barkhin, is a wonderful example of the co-creation of talented people from different countries. Natalia Ivanova is the chairman of the jury of the Russian-Italian Bella Prize, which helps identify and support young poets in Russia and Italy.

Lev Prygunov, a famous actor and talented painter, was friends with Brodsky for many years in the most difficult periods of his life at home and during the years of triumphal recognition in the West.

Elena Tanakova © Gallerix.ru