Semyon Davidovich Aranovich (Russian: Семён Дави́дович Арано́вич, 23 July 1934,

Derazhnya Derazhnia ( uk, Деражня; pl, Dzierażnia; also ''Derazhnya'') is a city and railway station in Khmelnytskyi Raion, Khmelnytskyi Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. Derazhnia is situated along the banks of the Vovk River (meaning ''wolf ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

– 8 September 1996,

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

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) was a Soviet and Russian

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

Life and career

Aranovich attended the Supreme Naval Aviation School in Nikolaev, graduating in 1955, and served for two years in the Soviet naval aviation troops. In 1965, he graduated from

VGIK The Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (russian: Всероссийский государственный институт кинематографии имени С. А. Герасимова, meaning ''All-Russian State Institute of Cinemat ...

, where he studied under

Roman Karmen Roman Lazarevich Karmen (real name Efraim Leyzorovich Korenman) (russian: Роман Лазаревич Кармен; – 28 April 1978) was a Soviet film director, war cinematographer, documentary filmmaker, journalist, screenwriter, pedagogue and ...

. While working at the Leningrad Documentary Studio in 1965–1970, Aranovich directed the biographical ''Time That Is Always with Us'' (1965) and ''The Friend of Gorky’s — Andreeva'' (1966), among other works. Two of his documentaries—one about Maksim Gorky’s last years, made in 1967, and one co-directed with

Aleksandr Sokurov Alexander Nikolayevich Sokurov, PAR (russian: link=no, Александр Николаевич Сокуров; born 14 June 1951) is a Russian filmmaker. His most significant works include a feature film, ''Russian Ark'' (2002), filmed in a s ...

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his Symphony No. 1 (Shostakovich), First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throug ...

(1980) — were shelved and only released during the

Perestroika ''Perestroika'' (; russian: links=no, перестройка, p=pʲɪrʲɪˈstrojkə, a=ru-perestroika.ogg) was a political movement for reform within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) during the late 1980s widely associated wit ...

. His works included the documentaries'' I Was Stalin's Bodyguard'' (1990) and '' The Anna Akhmatova Files'' (1989) (about the

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or writte ...

) as well as features like ''

Torpedo Bombers A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carrying the weight ...

'' (1983), which was his greatest critical and box-office success. His 1994 film '' The Year of the Dog'' won the Silver Bear for an outstanding artistic contribution at the

44th Berlin International Film Festival The 44th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 10 to 21 February 1994. The Golden Bear was awarded to British-Irish film ''In the Name of the Father'' directed by Jim Sheridan. The retrospective dedicated to Austrian director, ...

. He also directed the well-known television miniseries '' Rafferty'' in 1980 and ''

Confrontation Confrontation is an element of conflict wherein parties confront one another, directly engaging one another in the course of a dispute between them. A confrontation can be at any scale, between any number of people, between entire nations or cult ...

'' in 1985.

Andrei Kravchuk Andrei Yurievich Kravchuk (russian: Андре́й Ю́рьевич Кравчу́к; born 13 April 1962 in Leningrad) is a Russian television and film director and screenwriter best known for his films '' The Italian'' (2005) and '' Admiral'' ( ...

has made a documentary about him, ''Semyon Aranovich: Poslednii Kadr'' (''Semyon Aranovich: The Final Shot'').

Selected filmography

Documentary

*''The Anna Achmatova Files'' (Личное дело Анны Ахматовой, 1989) *''I Was Stalin's Bodyguard'' (Я служил в охране Сталина, или Опыт документальной мифологии, 1990)

Film and television

*'' ...And Other Officials'' (…И другие официальные лица, 1976) *'' Summer Trip to the Sea'' (Летняя поездка к морю, 1978) *'' Rafferty'' (Рафферти, 1980, TV) *''

'' (Торпедоносцы, 1983) *'' The Year of the Dog'' (Год собаки, 1994) *''

'' (Противостояние, 1985, TV)

References

External links

*
''Torpedo Bombers''
at Staroe.tv (video viewable inside Russia) {{DEFAULTSORT:Aranovich, Semyon 1934 births 1996 deaths Soviet documentary film directors Russian film directors Soviet film directors Soviet screenwriters Male screenwriters People from Khmelnytskyi, Ukraine Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic people Ukrainian Jews 20th-century Russian screenwriters 20th-century Russian male writers