Karen Shakhnazarov

Karen Georgievich Shakhnazarov, PAR (; born 8 July 1952) is a Soviet and Russian filmmaker, producer and screenwriter. He became the Director General of Mosfilm studios in 1998.
Shakhnazarov is the son of a Georgy Shakhnazarov, a politician of Armenian descent, and a Russian housewife, Anna Grigorievna Shakhnazarova.
His 1987 film "Courier" was entered into the 15th Moscow International Film Festival, where it won a Special Prize. In 2002 he was a member of the jury at the 24th Moscow International Film Festival. Since 2005 he has been a member of the Public Chamber of Russia.
His 2012 film "White Tiger" was selected as the Russian entry for the Best Foreign Language Oscar at the 85th Academy Awards, but it did not make the final shortlist.
In March 2014 he signed a letter in support of the position of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin on the situation in Ukraine and Crimea. For this he was banned from entering Ukraine.
Genealogy.
Karen Shakhnazarov is one of several living descendants of the famous Melik-Shahnazarian princely family from Nagorno-Karabakh. The Melik-Shahnazarians ruled Nagorno-Karabakh's province of Varanda in medieval and modern times.