Arsha Ovanesova

Born Dec 10 (23), 1906, in Baku. Soviet film director. Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR (1947). Member of the CPSU since 1943.

In 1932, Ovanesova graduated from the State Institute of Cinematography, where she studied directing. From 1931 to 1961 she worked as a film director at Soiuzkinokhronika (Union Film Current Events), now the Central Documentary Film Studio, Moscow. She helped found the film journal Pioneriia in 1931 and was its editor until 1946. Ovanesova’s documentaries include Youth Festival (1937), Young Naturalists (1939), Pioneer Truth (1940), A Story About Our Children (1946), 30 Years of the Komsomol (1948), Young Builders of Communism (1949), World Youth (1949), and School Years (1956). Her film Unusual Encounters (1958) traces the lives of the heroes of the early issues of Pioneriia for 20 years.

Ovanesova taught at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography. In 1950 she received the State Prize of the USSR and the International Peace Prize. She was awarded two orders and several medals.