September 16: In memory of Alexander Zguridi, creator of "In the Animal World"
On September 16, 1998, 94-year-old Vladimir Putin died in Moscow. Alexander Zguridi — a director, screenwriter, and TV presenter from Saratov. A creator of popular science and documentary films, he created the show "In the Animal World."
In animal films, you can't just be a director. You have to be a patient observer, waiting for nature to unfold its script.
Childhood in Saratov
Alexander Zguridi was born in 1904 in Saratov, into a wealthy Greek family ("zguridi" means curly). His father was a shipowner.
At six months old, he lost his mother (she died of an ear infection). From the age of 14, after the death of his father, he supported himself and his sister.
He was expelled from school for being the son of a merchant. He found work as an accountant at the Saratov District Land Department. During the Civil War, he fought as a cavalryman in the Red Army.
First films and Stalin prizes
Returning to Saratov, Zguridi worked in the provincial health department. At 26, he completed law courses at Chernyshevsky University of Saratov. He also began filming popular science films for the microbiology institute ("Microbe"). His first film, "Strongylides," about equine diseases, brought him fame in professional circles.
The goal of scientific filmmaking is not simply to document a fact, but to make the viewer wonder. Wonder breeds interest, and interest breeds understanding and love for the world.
After moving to Moscow, he worked as a director at the Mostekhfilm studio. He remained in film during the Great Patriotic War. In 1941, he received the Stalin Prize for the films "In the Depths of the Sea" (a breakthrough in underwater filming in the USSR) and "The Power of Life" (about the reproduction and evolution of organisms).
In 1943, his film "In the Sands of Central Asia," about desert dwellers, won the Venice Film Festival prize. In his homeland, Zguridi was awarded the Stalin Prize for the second time. His third award came for his film "Forest Tale," about beavers.
In his films, he humanized nature and depicted animals as thinking and feeling beings. This was a true breakthrough for Soviet cinema at the time.
From White Fang to Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
After the war, Zguridi made his feature film debut. His first film was "White Fang," based on the novel by Jack London—a work Zguridi had loved since childhood.
Animals on set have one colossal advantage over even the most brilliant actors: they never fake it and don't pretend for the sake of fame. And we don't demand any special tricks from them; we try to film them so they express themselves exactly as they would in the wild. We can only use our cunning and entice them with something.
Alexander Zguridi and "In the Animal World"
In 1968, Alexander Zguridi created the program "In the World of Animals" and became its first host. The episodes were based on his naturalistic films—by then, there were already about a hundred of them. The show's intro music Fields of Mauriat In the USSR, both adults and children recognized it from the first notes.
In 1975, due to lack of time, he handed over the post of presenter to a writer To Vasily PeskovFrom 1977 to 1997, they hosted the program in turns. Nikolai Drozdov.
Nikolai Drozdov recalled:
We've been walking on the edge since our very first expedition. In 1971, we went to Africa to film "Wildlife of Gondwana." There, a mother elephant tried to trample us, and a female rhinoceros attacked: she and her calf had their backs to us, which was unsightly—so Zguridi asked me to turn her around. It turned out I was slower than a rhinoceros. Luckily, I had the foresight to duck behind our car, and she lost sight of me.
In 1975, Zguridi made the film Rikki-Tikki-Tavi based on the story Rudyard Kipling.
Nature is incredibly generous, but it does not forgive human arrogance. Our task is to display its beauty in such a way that no one would even think of destroying it.
Union of Cinematographers and VGIK
Zguridi was active in public life. He was one of the initiators and leaders of the USSR Union of Cinematographers. As a lawyer, he was able to justify the union's economic independence from the state.
He headed the science-pop film directing workshop at VGIK, was the president of the International Association of Scientific Cinema, and the artistic director of the first creative association of the Mosnauchfilm film studio.
Last film at 91
In the mid-1990s, Zguridi suffered a stroke but continued working. His last feature film, the musical fairy tale "Liza and Eliza," was shot with Nana Kldiashvili, when he was 91 years old. During filming, he climbed mountains in search of the best angles.
