SLAVA (VLADISLAV) TSUKERMAN
Best known as the director/writer/producer of the cult classic Liquid Sky, Slava Tsukerman has directed international films of various genres. He has received 13 awards from international film festivals.
Janet Maslin of the New York Times described Liquid Sky as “Genuinely startling! Visually bright and arresting…sly humor and ferocious fashion sense.” Vincent Canby of the New York Times described Tsukerman as “A rare and unusual talent!” The Wall Street Journal said “New York has never been photographed better!” And Newsday called it “The most original movie of 1983!”
He is currently completing the feature motion picture Perestroika starring Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham, Sam Robards and Oksana Stashenko. Tsukerman wrote, helped produce and directed the movie.
Tsukerman made his debut at the age of 21, as the director/writer/producer of I Believe in Spring. The first independently made fiction short in the Soviet Union history, it won First Prize in the Moscow Amateur Film Festival, won an award in the Film Festival in Montreal, and was successfully released nationally.
Tsukerman’s films Great Bells, The Heat in Cold Numbers, Professor Alexandrov’s Discovery, Vaudeville On Vaudeville won the highest awards in the Soviet film industry. His documentary Once Upon a Time There Were Russians in Jerusalem, produced by Israeli Television, was a first prize winner at the Tenth World Film Festival of TV films in Hollywood. Among the Israeli press comments on the film:
“It has been a long time since a film of such excellent quality and interest as that made by Tsukerman was shown on Israeli television”.
Yediot Ahoronot
“In my opinion, Slava Tsukerman is at present the best film director on Israeli Television”.
Maariv
“One of the most outstanding films that had ever appeared on Israeli Television, and possibly the very best..”
Haolam Hase
Prior to shooting Stalin’s Wife, Tsukerman filmed both an American and Russian version of Poor Liza, based on a Russian love story of 18th Century. Poor Liza won the Grand Prix at the Gatchina Film Festival (Russia, March 2001) and a prize for Best Directing at the Kinotavr Film Festival in New York (April 2001).
Tsukerman lives in New York City with wife and producer partner Nina Kerova.