Stanislav Iosifovich Rostotsky was a Soviet film director and screenwriter, the recipient of the two USSR State Prizes and a Lenin Prize. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1974.
Background
Stanislav Iosifovich Rostotsky was born on April 21, 1922 in Rybinsk, Yaroslavl', Russian Federation. His grandfather Boleslaw Rostotsky served as a General in the Imperial Russian Army and a prosecutor on Emperor's personal order. His father Iosif Boleslawovich Rostotsky (1890-1965) was an acclaimed doctor, docent, author of 200 monographs, as well as a secretary of the Scientific Medical Council at the People's Commissariat for Health. His mother Lidia Karlovna Rostotskaya (1882-1964) was a milliner turned a housewife. He had a brother Boleslaw Norbert Iosifovich Rostotsky (born 1912), a famous theater historian during the Soviet days.
Education
At the age of five, Stanilsav watched Battleship Potemkin and became obsessed with cinema. In 1936 he met Sergei Eisenstein and took part in his unfinished Bezhin Meadow movie as an actor. Eisenstein became his teacher and good friend later on. He convinced Stanislav that only a well-read and educated person may become a film director. This influenced his decision to enter the Institute of Philosophy and Literature in 1940, with an intention to enter VGIK (Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography).
In 1942 Stanislav Iosifovich was enrolled in the Red Army. He left for the front line in a year. As a private he served in the 6th cavalry corps and traveled from Vyazma through Smolensk to Rivne, taking part in battles. In 1944 he was seriously injured during the fight near Dubno when he was driven over by a Nazi tank. He survived only due to a trench where his body was partly buried. According to Rostotsky, one of his legs was ruined, as well as his rib cage and his hand. "In addition, a shell fragment hurt me in the head... Good thing the mates took my gun away - otherwise I would've probably shot myself. Because I spent 22 hours lying in that swamp, losing my consciousness, so I had time to think". He was saved by one of the passing soldiers and then - by a front nurse Anna Chugunova who carried him to the hospital. Rostotsky later dedicated his film The Dawns Here Are Quiet to her. As a result of gangrene Stanislav Iosifovich lost one of his legs (a below-knee amputation). He wore a prosthesis, yet never mentioned it and led an active life. Many people working with him didn't even realise he was disabled. He refused to use a walking stick despite the pain, especially during later years.
During September 1944 at the age of 22 Stanislav Iosifovich Rostotsky joined VGIK to become a film director. His teacher was Grigori Kozintsev. He studied for seven years, simultaneously working as Kozintsev's assistant at the Lenfilm studio. In 1952 he directed his graduation movie Ways-Roads. During the audition he met his future wife, an actress Nina Menshikova. Rostotsky received good recommendations and was sent to work at the Gorky Film Studio where he spent the next 35 years.
Career
Between 1955 and 1989 Stanislav Iosifovich directed and co-directed 12 motion pictures, one short film and one documentary Profession: Film Actor (1979) dedicated to his close friend Vyacheslav Tikhonov who started in five of his movies in the leading roles. Unlike many other directors, he cast his wife only once, in a supporting role in the film We'll Live Till Monday (1968). Their son - Andrei Rostotsky, a professional actor and stuntman - was also given only one role in the historical war picture A Squadron of Flying Hussars (1980) co-directed by Stanislav under a pseudonym of Stepan Stepanov. War was a running theme in most of his movies, referred to either directly or indirectly. He was named a People's Artist of the USSR in 1974.
Stanislav Iosifovich also served as a teacher at VGIK (Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography) and the President of the Jury at the 9th Moscow International Film Festival in 1975, the 10th Moscow International Film Festival in 1977, the 11th Moscow International Film Festival in 1979, the 12th Moscow International Film Festival in 1981 and the 13th Moscow International Film Festival in 1983. As a journalist he was a regular contributor to a number of film periodicals and biographical books, wrote about Sergei Eisenstein, Grigori Kozintsev, Andrei Moskvin and Leonid Bykov.
Stanislav Iosifovich himself left the industry after finishing his final film From the Life of Fyodor Kuzkin in 1989. In his later interviews, he told that he had nothing left to say and that he was horrified by the current state of cinema. According to him, young people needed positive emotions, but instead the latest Soviet and Russian films and art in general relied primarily on vulgarity and instincts.
During the 1990s Stanislav Iosifovich spent a lot of time at his house near the Gulf of Finland, fishing, as this was his favourite hobby. He turned to cinema only once — to act in the 1998 TV mini-series At Daggers Drawn, an adaptation of the classic novel of the same name (director Alexandr Orlov). He also took part in the Window on Europe film festival in Vyborg.
Stanislav Iosifovich died on August 10, 2001 on his way to the festival. He felt a strong pain in the chest and managed to pull the car over. His wife called the ambulance, but the doctors were unable to save him. Stanislav Rostotsky was buried in Moscow on the Vagankovo Cemetery. In just a year his only son Andrei Rostotsky died tragically as he fell down a cliff while making preparations for his new movie.
Membership
A long-time member of the Filmmakers' Union, he lost his place at the board during the infamous V Congress of the Soviet Filmmakers in 1986, being accused of «nepotism» and «political conformism» along with Lev Kulidzhanov, Sergei Bondarchuk and other top directors. This led to a split, restructuring and further dramatic changes. Many critics and filmmakers consider it to be the start of the decline of the Soviet cinema.