Pyotr Todorovsky

Pyotr Yefimovich Todorovsky (, , 26 August 1925 – 24 May 2013) was a Russian film director, screenwriter, and cinematographer.

His son Valery Todorovsky and grandson Pyotr Todorovsky Jr. both became film directors.

Biography

Early years and WWII

Pyotr Todorovsky was born on August 26, 1925, in Bobrynets, Zinovievsky district of the USSR, into a Jewish family. He became the second son of Efim Gilievich Todorovsky and Rozalia Tsalevna Ostrovskaya, after the elder brother Ilya. Pyotr had only finished 9 classes when the World War II forced his family to evacuate first to Stalingrad, then to Novouzensky District of the Saratov Oblast.

For more than 60 years, Todorovsky had been searching for his brother Ilya who was called to arms at the very beginning of the fights on the Eastern Front in 1941. A graduate of Kiev Artillery School, Ilya reached the rank of senior lieutenant and was a platoon commander. He disappeared in 1942. To hundreds of inquiries and applications, the family invariably received the reply from officials that there was no information about the brother. Only in 2004, a hand-written document was discovered that mentioned Todorovsky Ilya Yefimovich among the killed on January 21, 1942, in fights near the village Vodosye, Leningrad region.

Career

Over the course of his career, which spanned more than 50 years, Todorovsky had filmed many movies that achieved cult status in the USSR and Russia. Not only did he create sharp and honest war films, based on his personal experience,

In 1949, Pyotr Todorovsky entered the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography. In 1954, he went to work at the Moldova-Film and made his cinematographer's debut in 1955 with Moldavian Tunes. In 1956 he worked as a cameraman on the set of Spring on Zarechnaya Street, a cult film by Marlen Khutsiev. Todorovsky filmed several documentaries for Moldova Film and in 1962, he released his directorial debut, Nevermore.

In 1955-1965, he worked at the Odesa Film Studio, then moved on to work at the Mosfilm.

In 1965, his Faithfulness received Best First Work Award at the 26th Venice International Film Festival. Inside the USSR, it was his 1967 movie Magician that brought Todorovsky to prominence. Created in the neorealist style, it portrayed the protagonist at odds with reality. His best-known film, Intergirl, was released in 1989, and became a box office hit: it was watched by 40 million viewers in cinemas. Being the first Soviet film about prostitution, even with very modest sex scenes, it caused a huge scandal for covering the taboo topic, but enjoyed huge popularity with the audience as it captured the zeitgeist of the perestroika era with gritty realism. The film won numerous awards, including the Special Jury Prize at the Tokyo International Film Festival. For this role, the lead Elena Yakovleva won a prestigious Russian award Nika as Best actress.

Todorovsky succumbed to a long illness on May 23, 2013.

Awards Todorovsky was named a People's Artist of Russia in 1985. Encore, Once More, Encore! won the 1992 Nika Award for Best Film. Wartime Romance (1983) was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It was also entered into the 34th Berlin International Film Festival, where Inna Churikova won the Silver Bear for Best Actress.

Filmography Spring on Zarechnaya Street (1956) Nevermore (1962) Faithfulness (1965) Magician (1967) Urban Romance (1970) It Was in May (1970) The Last Victim (1975) Wartime Romance (1983) Waiting for Love (1981) Along the main street with orchestra (1986) Intergirl (1989) Encore, Once More Encore! (1992) What a Wonderful Game (1995) Retro Threesome (1998) Life Is Full of Fun (2001) Riorita (2008)