Andrei Tarkovsky is widely regarded as one of the most influential world-cinema directors and ‘Andrei Rublev’ as his finest film. It is an epic tale about the great medieval icon painter and chronicles a turbulent period of Russian history. Faced with the brutalities of the world outside the monastery, Andrei Rublev begins to question the role of art in a depraved world and takes a vow of silence. After many years of travelling silently around medieval Russia, he meets a young boy who has taken charge of the construction of a large silver bell and finds in him the inspiration to speak again. ‘Andrei Rublev’ was initially suppressed by Soviet authorities upon its release in 1966. The ban was only rescinded when the film premiered at the 1969 Cannes Film Festival and since then has been named by The Guardian as a film that gets as close to transcendence as cinema can get. ★★★★★ "It's Tarkovsky's lighter touches, coupled with his majestic vision, that makes Andrei Rublev such compulsive viewing some 25 years after its original release" - David Parkinson, Empire