Aleksandr Ptushko

Directing

Born April 19, 1900 · Lugansk, Lugansk uyezd, Yekaterinoslav Governorate, Russian Empire [now Luhansk, Luhansk Oblast, Ukraine]

Died March 6, 1973

Also known as Aleksandr Lukich Ptushko · Alfred Posco · A. Ptushko

IMDb

Biography

Aleksandr Lukich Ptushko (Russian: Александр Лукич Птушко, 19 April [O.S. 6 April] 1900 – 6 March 1973) was a Soviet animation and fantasy film director, and a People's Artist of the USSR (1969). Ptushko is frequently (and somewhat misleadingly) referred to as "the Soviet Walt Disney," because of his prominent early role in animation in the Soviet Union, though a more accurate comparison would be to Willis H. O'Brien or Ray Harryhausen. Some critics, such as Tim Lucas and Alan Upchurch, have also compared Ptushko to Italian filmmaker Mario Bava, who made fantasy and horror films with similarities to Ptushko's work and made similarly innovative use of color cinematography and special effects. He began his film career as a director and animator of stop motion short films, and became a director of feature-length films combining live action, stop motion, creative special effects, and Russian mythology. Along the way he would be responsible for a number of firsts in Russian film history (including the first feature-length animated film, and the first film in color), and would make several extremely popular and internationally praised films full of visual flair and spectacle.

Awards & recognition

People's Artist of the USSR · 1969
Stalin Prize · 1947
Jubilee Medal "In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin"
Medal "For Valiant Labour in the Great Patriotic War 1941–1945"
Medal "In Commemoration of the 800th Anniversary of Moscow"