MOSCOW, June 16. /TASS/. The farewell ceremony for renowned Russian filmmaker, Chairman of the Culture committee of the State Duma (lower house of parliament) Stanislav Govorukhin is underway in the Transfiguration Church of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow, a TASS correspondent reported
Govorukhin died on June 14 at the age of 82.
Russian President Vladimir Putin attended the ceremony. As a sign of respect and sorrow, the head of state laid flowers to the coffin and expressed his condolences to the relatives of the director, in particular to his widow Galina Govorukhina.
Among those who came to say farewell to the filmmaker are Russia’s Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky, head of the Mosfilm studio Karen Shakhnazarov and many other well-known Russian artists.
The farewell ceremony will last until 1:00 pm Moscow time. After that the burial service will be held. The director will be buried at Moscow’s Novodevichy Cemetery.
As a filmmaker Govorukhin was known for his successful adaptations of adolescent classics, including Robinson Crusoe (1973), Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1981), And Then There Were None (1987 - an adaptation of Agatha Christie's original 1939).
In 1979, he directed The Meeting Place Cannot Be Changed, one of the cult films of the late Soviet era. Govorukhin was a member of Russia’s State Duma since 1993.