Dedication: For Andrei Tarkovsky

Photo courtesy of Vlad Vozniuk/URBEX.

 

Stalking Chernobyl is dedicated to Andrei Tarkovsky.

Tarkovsky was a Russian filmmaker who is widely regarded as one of the most prominent and influential auteurs of the twentieth century. His 1979 film, Stalker, foreshadowed the events of Chernobyl. A sometimes surrealistic science fiction art film, the movie depicts a guide known as a “stalker” leading a writer and scientist through a post-apocalyptic site referred to as “the Zone.” Interestingly, the film was made seven years before the Chernobyl disaster and some people consider it an allegory for something completely different, like Stalin’s gulags.

Tarkovsky’s body of work has had a huge impact on films made since the 1980s, with a long list of directors in many genres citing him as an influence, including Lars von Trier, Terrence Malick, Béla Tarr, and Claire Denis. The film Stalker has become a touchstone work for countless post-apocalyptic sci-fi films that have been made since its release.