Alexander Tatarsky is a Russian director and screenwriter. His works have opened a completely new page in Russian animation. His works are still admired by young viewers.
Childhood and youth
Alexander Mikhailovich Tatarsky was born on December 11, 1950 in Kiev. His father composed reprises for circus clowns. He knew Yuri Nikulin, Oleg Popov and other great people who worked in this genre very well. As a child, Alexander spent a lot of time in the circus and even worked part-time there during school holidays. He wanted to become a clown, but changed his mind, as he realized that this is a very difficult profession that requires specific skills, and not everyone has the talent to make people laugh. The father of the future director also wrote scripts for animated films. This area really captivated young Alexander.
Tatarsky decided to link his life with cinema. In 1974 he received a diploma from the Kiev State Institute of Theater and Cinema named after I. Karpenko-Kary and became a certified film critic-editor. In 1979, he graduated from specialized courses for animators of the State Cinema of the Ukrainian SSR.
Career
Alexander Tatarsky has been working at Kievnauchfilm since the age of 18. He started with the simplest blue-collar professions, earning money while studying at the university. After graduation, he took an active part in the creation of cartoons as an assistant director.
In 1980 Tatarsky was noticed and invited to work in Moscow at the Ekran studio as a film director. This opened up new opportunities for the talented young man. Already in Moscow, he began attending the Higher Courses for Scriptwriters, coming to classes as a free listener.
A year after starting work in the Ekran studio, Tatarsky shot his first animated film, The Plasticine Crow. This work has won numerous prestigious awards. After the release of the cartoon on the screens, the surname of Alexander Mikhailovich became recognizable. A year later, Tatarsky created a splash screen for the program "Good night, kids". It still goes on air in a slightly modified form. The screensaver was included in the Guinness Book of Records.
Cartoons became Tatarsky's subsequent works:
- "Last year's snow was falling";
- "The Other Side of the Moon" (cartoon for adults);
- "Koloboks are conducting the investigation."
All these works were a dizzying success. They are still watched with pleasure and loved by both adults and children. Tatarsky worked in his own style. He was not the first to use plasticine figures in cartoons. But before him, no one had such vivid pictures. One of the secrets was the constant metamorphosis of the characters. All the characters are constantly reincarnating and viewers can watch how funny animals or objects are made from raw plasticine.
If you pay attention to the plots, there is a strong association with a clown. All the director's works are imbued with sparkling humor. This is not surprising, since as a child, the director spent a lot of time in the circus and was close to this environment.
In 1988, Alexander Mikhailovich created his own studio "Pilot". It was the first non-state film studio in the history of Russia. In difficult times for the country, it was necessary to survive, and Tatarsky wrote scripts for his team, promoted Pilot's projects, and made cartoons. At the same time, he found time to share his experience, lecturing at directing courses.
The Pilot studio carried out foreign orders. But Tatarsky was badly wounded when his colleagues went abroad. "Pilot" has become, to some extent, a supplier of high-quality personnel for Western animation. The director himself has repeatedly spoken about the need to show Russian children Russian cartoons so that a "generation of Americans" does not grow up in Russia.
In the 90s of the last century, Tatarsky was mainly engaged in organizational work, but managed to shoot several pictures:
- "Gone With the Wind";
- "Red Gate Rasemon";
- "Arrival of the train".
The full-length project "Arrival of the Train" was never completed as planned. Some of the materials were destroyed due to the flood. The director's later works turned out to be somewhat gloomy and not similar to what he created earlier.
The Mountain of Gems is Tatarsky's last project. It consists of 71 cartoon series. The duration of each episode is 13 minutes. The project contains tales of different peoples. And when creating this cycle, the director wanted to show the young viewers the diversity of cultures and the wealth of a great country. Tatarsky planned to create more than 100 episodes, but did not manage to do so.
Tatarsky was awarded the title of Honored Art Worker of the Russian Federation in 1996. His works were awarded a large number of awards not only in Russia, but also abroad, which was a rarity for that time.
Personal life
The personal life of Alexander Mikhailovich was stormy. He was married three times. The director met his first wife, Inna, in his youth. As his close friend Stanislav Sadalsky said, almost all of his most brilliant works were written during the period when Tatarsky was next to Inna. The second wife Catherine gave birth to his son Ilya in 1992.
He met his third wife Alina at the Pilot studio. In 2006, their son Mikhail was born, but their happiness was not long. In 2007, Tatarsky died. He died of sudden cardiac arrest. Unfortunately, he did not have time to implement many projects, but his animation studio still exists and pleases the audience, showing wonderful cartoons.
