Vladimir Vasilevich Monakhov

Born Sept. 30, 1922, in Dolgintsevo, Dnepropetrovsk Oblast. Soviet cameraman and director. Honored Art Worker of the RSFSR (1964); member of the CPSU since 1943. Participant in the Great Patriotic War.

In 1952, Monakhov graduated from the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography. He shot such films as The Grasshopper (1955, with F. B. Dobronravov) and Height (1957). In the film The Fate of a Man (1959), for which Monakhov was awarded the Lenin Prize (1960), he organically combines a documentary approach with picturesque contrasts of light and shadow, creating a tense, expressive mood. Originality, monumentality, and a complex and dynamic ordering of scenes eloquently emphasize the epic quality of his film Optimistic Tragedy (1963). Monakhov directed the films Unsolicited Love (1965), Of Human Miracles (1968), and Unexpected Guest (1972). He has been awarded three orders and various medals.