Michael Lockshin (film director)

Michael Lockshin (Михаил Арнольдович Локшин; born 1981) is a film director and writer.

Early life and education
Lockshin was born in 1981 in the United States and grew up in both the United States and Russia. Lockshin graduated with a MA degree in psychology from Moscow State University. After graduation, Lockshin moved to London, where he began directing commercials.

He is the son of the American-born scientist Arnold Lockshin, who requested asylum in the USSR in the 1980s. In 1986, his family moved to the USSR from Houston. He has Jewish heritage from his father's side.

Personal life
According to Business Insider, Lockshin is not a Russian citizen.

Career
While still studying in college, Lockshin started directing commercials and music videos. He shot commercials for over 10 years, and his spots won numerous awards, including Cannes Lions Young Director's Awards, Golden Drum, and others. The David Duchovny ad (2014) went viral internationally.

Lockshin's debut feature film, Silver Skates, shot in 2019, was released theatrically Christmas 2020 in Russia to high acclaim. The movie became the first Russian-language Netflix Originals movie. It premiered as the Opening Film of the Moscow International Film Festival. At the 20th Golden Eagle Awards (2021), Silver Skates was nominated for 12 awards, a record in the history of the Golden Eagle Awards, and won 6 awards, including "Best Picture". Lockshin himself was nominated for Best Director. The film also won "Best Picture" from the Association of Producers awards (APKIT), and won several awards at the Nika Awards in 2021, with Lockshin up in the category "Discovery of the Year".

His second feature film The Master and Margarita, which he also co-wrote, is based on Mikhail Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita, and stars German actor August Diehl. The film was shot in 2021. The film's release date was pushed multiple times due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and problems with funding the film's post-production. Initially slated for a release by Universal Pictures on January 1, 2023, the film was ultimately released in Russia on January 25, 2024.

The movie received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics, but was targeted by nationalist activists, propagandists, and government officials, including Zakhar Prilepin, Tigran Keosayan, and Vladimir Solovyev, who complained about the director's views on the war in Ukraine, the film's anti-regime stance, and the fact that the Ministry of Culture had provided funding for a critical film, even though it was before Russia's full-scale invastion into Ukraine. They demanded a criminal investigation into the film and into Lockshin himself. This was echoed by deputies of the State Duma as well