In 1979 Tarkovsky began the production of the film The First Day (Russian: Первый День Pervyj Dyen′), based on a script b y his friend and long-term collaborator Andrei Konchalovsky. The film was set in 18th-century Russia during the reign of Peter the Great and starred Natalya Bondarchuk and Anatoli Papanov. To get the project approved by Goskino, Tarkovsky submitted a script ...