Andrei Tarkovsky's masterful epic is considered by many critics to be the most important Russian film of the last 20 years. Co-written by Andron Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky (director of The First Teacher, A Nest of Gentlefolk, etc.), Andrei Rublev is a vast, free-form fresco of life in fifteenth century Russia under the reign of Tartar invaders. Based on the life of the Russian monk and icon painter Andrei Rublev, the film follows him as he wanders, anguished and clinging to a powerful faith, through a gruesome environment of barbarism and pagan rites, vividly and violently recreated. Andrei Rublev is a rare hybrid: a brilliant spectacle that is also an intensely personal exploration of the feelings of an artist in conflict with his society. Banned for years and then released in a cut version, Andrei Rublev is now restored to its original length.