Renowned Soviet-era film-maker Marlen Khutsiev, one of the country’s most influential post-war directors, has died aged 93, the Russian Union of Cinematographers said on Tuesday. A leading representative of the Soviet New Wave, “he lived a life full of drama and joy,” spokeswoman Tatyana Nemchinskaya .

The director’s career spanned more than six decades and he worked into his 90s.President Vladimir Putin expressed condolences on the passing of the “distinguished” director, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

Georgian-born Khutsiev was famous for cult films in the mid 1950s and 1960s that captured the mood in Soviet society during Nikita Khrushchev’s Thaw.Lungin said “Ilych’s Gate”, which portrayed the lives of ordinary Soviets and featured filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky in a cameo, was a “manifesto” of the era.

The movie incurred Khrushchev’s wrath and was heavily censored. The original director’s cut only premieried in 1988, during Mikhail Gorbachev’s Perestroika.

Over his career, Khutsiev earned the admiration of Federico Fellini, Jean-Luc Godard and other film greats.But at home “he walked a precarious line,” said the New York Museum of Modern Art, which presented the first major North American retrospective of his work in 2016.

“He left an indelible mark on everyone’s life,” the 86-year-old told AFP. Khutsiev received numerous international awards and prizes at film festivals such as Venice and Berlin.