Ivan’s Childhood

A rare opportunity to see a work by Tarkovsky, one of the all-time great directors of World cinema. He only made 7 feature films but was responsible for some of cinema’s greatest moments. In Ivan’s Childhood, Tarkovsky’s first feature, he is concerned with Russia during World War 2. The film is a coming of age story featuring 12 years old Ivan (Burlyaev) who delights in the natural world. His happy pre-war childhood is contrasted with his war-time experiences fighting as a scout for the Russian army. No battle scenes are depicted and the war is imagined through the eyes of the child. Described as “one of the most beautifully shot films in history”, it is a poetic and haunting film.