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Yevgen Sherstobitov

Yevgen Firsovych Sherstobitov (1928–2008) was a Ukrainian Soviet film director and screenwriter at the Kyiv O. Dovzhenko Film Studio. A significant part of his creative legacy is connected with Crimea, where he shot a number of popular adventure and science fiction films.

Overview

Yevgen Sherstobitov began his active work in Ukraine in the early 1960s. In 1963, while preparing to film in Crimea the movie "The Cabin Boy of the Schooner 'Columbus'" (Yunha zi shkhuny "Kolumb"), based on the novella by Mykola Trublaini, he met at the Kyiv Film Studio the assistant Zhema (who had previously worked with Sergiy Paradzhanov), and she became his wife for 45 years.

Crimea became for the director not only the main creative platform for shooting such films as "Aqualungs at the Bottom" (Aqualangy na dni, 1965), The Andromeda Nebula (Tumannist Andromedy, 1967) and "Project 'Alpha'" (Proekt "Alfa"), but also his personally significant Land. According to the director's will, after his death in 2008 his ashes were scattered over the Black Sea near Sudak — in the places where "The Andromeda Nebula" (Tumannist Andromedy) was filmed.

Key Details / Subtopics

  • Meeting his wife and Crimean filming (1963): In 1963 in Kyiv he met the assistant Zhema, inviting her to the film crew of "The Cabin Boy of the Schooner 'Columbus'" (Yunha zi shkhuny "Kolumb") in Crimea, which launched a family dynasty and a years-long collaboration.
  • Adaptation of "The Andromeda Nebula" (1967): staging of a large-scale science fiction film based on the novel by Ivan Yefremov. Filming of alien landscapes was carried out in Crimean locations (Ai-Petri, Alushta, Novyi Svit, Kapsel Valley, the buildings of "Artek"). The film received a special award at the International Festival of Fantastic Films in Trieste (Italy, 1968).
  • Artistic innovations in cinema: introduction into the script of "The Andromeda Nebula" (Tumannist Andromedy) of human motifs absent from Yefremov's novel (in particular the episode with a volume of William Shakespeare's poetry and the refusal of medical erasure of romantic feelings).
  • Love for Crimea and commemoration: Sherstobitov repeatedly returned to Crimean landscapes in his films. According to his will, the director's ashes were scattered over the sea near Sudak in 2008.