Roman Abelevich Kachanov (; 25 February 19214 July 1993) was a Soviet

animator An animator is an artist who creates images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video games. Animat ...

who worked primarily in the

stop-motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animation, animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appe ...

animation technique. He directed the popular series of films about

Cheburashka Cheburashka ( rus, Чебурашка, a=ru-Cheburashka.ogg, p=t͡ɕɪbʊˈraʂkə), also known as ''Topple'' in earlier English translations, is a fictional character created by Soviet writer Eduard Uspensky in his 1965 children's book ''Gena ...

: ''

Gena the Crocodile Gena the Crocodile () is a fictional character found in Russian media, particularly animation. History Soviet era: Literature and puppetry Gena is known as a friendly crocodile in the series of animation films '' Gena the Crocodile'', ''Cheburash ...

'', ''

Shapoklyak Old lady Shapoklyak () is a villain from stories about Cheburashka written by Russian writer Eduard Uspensky. Her first visual appearance was in the animated film ''Gena the Crocodile (film), Gena the Crocodile'' (1969) by Roman Abelevich Kachano ...

'' and ''

Cheburashka Goes to School ''Cheburashka Goes to School'' () is a 1983 Soviet animated film directed by Roman Kachanov, the last one of the series about Cheburashka. Plot summary On August 31, Gena the Crocodile returns home by plane, but to his surprise, Cheburashka does ...

''.

Life

Early years

Kachanov was born in 1921 in

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

to a Jewish family. His mother was Haya Yakovlevna Kachanova; his father, Abel Mendelevich Kachanov, was a shoemaker. His mother died in 1932, when he was 11 years old. In spring 1939, Kachanov was called up for military service in the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

in the town of Chkalovsky, near Moscow. This deployment separated him permanently from his father and his only, older sister Maria (both were killed in Smolensk during the

Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

). After attending flying school in

Krasnoyarsk Krasnoyarsk is the largest types of inhabited localities in Russia, city and administrative center of Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. It is situated along the Yenisey, Yenisey River, and is the second-largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk, with a p ...

, Kachanov flew fighter planes as a

tail gunner A tail gunner or rear gunner is a crewman on a military aircraft who functions as a gunner defending against enemy fighter or interceptor attacks from the rear, or "tail", of the plane. The tail gunner operates a flexible machine gun or au ...

. In 1940, the plane Kachanov was flying crashed. The pilot was killed; Kachanov was hospitalized with serious injuries. In spring 1941, Kachanov entered the

Moscow State University of Railway Engineering The Russian University of Transport (RUT (MIIT); ), officially the Autonomous Educational Institution of Higher Education "Russian University of transport" () is a public university founded in 1896 and headquartered in Moscow, Russia. Along wit ...

. From 1941 to 1945, he served in the

airborne forces Airborne forces are ground combat units carried by aircraft and airdropped into battle zones, typically by parachute drop. Parachute-qualified infantry and support personnel serving in airborne units are also known as paratroopers. The main ...

as a parachute instructor and took part in special operations behind enemy lines. In 1945, due to Kachanov's war service he was promoted to sergeant. Even before demobilization in 1946, he decided to work in cinema and transferred to service at the Ministry of Defence studio in the Bolshevo.

Career

After demobilization, Kachanov went to

Soyuzmultfilm Soyuzmultfilm ( rus, Союзмультфи́льм, p=səˌjʉsmʊlʲtˈfʲilʲm , ''Unioncartoon'') (also known as SMF Animation Studio in English, formerly known as Soyuzdetmultfilm, ''Unionchildcartoon'') is a Russian animation studio, produ ...

and studied animation. From 1947 to 1957 he worked as animator, assistant director and production designer for film directors and animators of the older generation: Dmitry Babichenko, Valentina and Zinaida Brumberg,

Lev Atamanov Lev Atamanov (), born Levon Konstantinovich Atamanyan (, ; – 12 February 1981), was a Soviet Armenians, Armenian animation director. Atamanov was one of the foremost History of Russian animation, Soviet animation film directors and one of ...

Ivan Ivanov-Vano Ivan Petrovich Ivanov-Vano (; – 25 March 1987), born Ivanov, was a Soviet Union, Soviet and Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian animation director, animator, screenwriter, educator, professor at Gerasimov Institute of Cine ...

and Vladimir Polkovnikov (whom Kachanov regarded as his directing mentor). In 1958, Kachanov and Anatoly Karanovich directed his first film, ''The Old Man and the Crane''. In 1959 he directed Nazim Hikmet's screenplay in ''Love Cloud'', which received awards at festivals in

Annecy Annecy ( , ; , also ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Haute-Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, regi ...

Oberhausen Oberhausen (, ) is a city on the river Emscher in the Ruhr Area, Germany, located between Duisburg and Essen ( ). The city hosts the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and its Gasometer Oberhausen is an anchor point of the European Rout ...

and

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

. With assistant work in the past, directing these two films gave him the experience to later switch primarily to directing. Kachanov's films ''The Mitten'', '' Crocodile Gena'' and ''

The Mystery of the Third Planet ''The Mystery of the Third Planet'' (, ''Tayna tretyey planety'', also translated as ''The Secret of the Third Planet'') is a 1981 Soviet traditionally animated feature film directed by Roman Kachanov and produced by the Soyuzmultfilm studio in M ...

'' have become Russian classics. Retrieved 2012-01-14.

''The Mitten''

In 1967 Kachanov's animated film, ''The Mitten'', received widespread international and domestic recognition. It became a 20th-century international animation classic.

Trilogy: ''Gena the Crocodile'', ''Cheburashka'' and ''Shapoklyak''

These three films (and a fourth, 1983's ''

'') created the animated characters of

, Crocodile Gena and old woman Shapoklyak, who entered Russian culture and are still referenced in audiovisual, pop-cultural and folkloric works.

''The Mystery of the Third Planet''

The animated cult SF film is based on a story by Kir Bulychov, "Alice's Journey".

Selected filmography

* 1951 — ''

The Night Before Christmas "A Visit from St. Nicholas", routinely referred to as "The Night Before Christmas" and "Twas the Night Before Christmas" from its first line, is a poem first published anonymously under the title "Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas" in 1823. A ...

'' (animator) * 1952 — ''

The Snow Maiden ''The Snow Maiden: A Spring Fairy Tale'' ( rus, Снегурочка–весенняя сказка, Snegurochka–vesennyaya skazka, a=Ru-Snegurochka.ogg) is an opera in four acts with a prologue by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, composed d ...

'' (animator) * 1952 — ''

The Scarlet Flower The Scarlet Flower (), also known as The Little Scarlet Flower or The Little Red Flower, is a Russian literary fairy tale written by Sergey Aksakov. It is a variation of the plot of the fairy tale ''Beauty and the Beast''. In Russia, ''Beauty an ...

'' (assistant director, animator) * 1955 — '' The Enchanted Boy'' (art director) * 1958 — ''An Old Man and The Crane'' (director, screenwriter) * 1959 — ''The Cloud in Love'' (director) * 1960 — ''Little Masha and The Bear'' (director) * 1961 — ''Novice'' (director) * 1962 — ''The Injury'' (director) * 1963 — ''How The House was built to The Kitten'' (director) * 1964 — ''Alesha's Tales'' (director) * 1964 — '' A Little Frog Is looking for His Father'' (director) * 1965 — ''The Portrait'' (director) * 1966 — ''The Granddaughter was lost'' (director) * 1967 — '' The Mitten'' (director) * 1968 — ''Rivals'' (director) * 1969 — '' Crocodile Gena'' (director, screenwriter) * 1970 — ''The Letter'' (director) * 1972 — ''

'' (director, screenwriter) * 1972 — ''Mama'' (director) * 1973 — ''Aurore'' (director, screenwriter) * 1974 — '' The Heron and the Crane'' (screenwriter) * 1974 — ''

'' (director, screenwriter) * 1975 — ''The Inheritance of The Magician Bakhram'' (director, screenwriter) * 1977 — ''The Last Petal'' (director, screenwriter) * 1978 — ''Metamorphosis'' (director, screenwriter) * 1981 — ''

'' (director) * 1982 — ''The Magic Medicine'' (director) * 1982 — ''About an Old Man, an Old Woman and Thiere Hen Ryaba'' (screenwriter) * 1983 — ''

'' (director, screenwriter) * 1985 — '' Two Tickets to India'' (director) * 1985 — '' Dereza'' (screenwriter) * 1986 — ''The Miracles of Technology'' (director) * 1989 — ''The Newcomer in The Cabbage'' (screenwriter)

References

External links

*
Roman Kachanov
at ''Animatsiya.net'' (all his films with subtitles in English and other languages)
Profiles of Russian Animators

Profiles of Russian Animators
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kachanov, Roman Abelevich 1921 births 1993 deaths People from Smolensk Russian Jews Russian animators Russian film directors Russian male screenwriters Films directed by Roman Abelevich Kachanov Soviet animators Soviet film directors Stop motion animators Soviet military personnel of World War II Academic staff of High Courses for Scriptwriters and Film Directors People's Artists of Russia Recipients of the USSR State Prize Annie Award winners Burials in Troyekurovskoye Cemetery 20th-century Russian screenwriters 20th-century Russian male writers