Roman Kachanov

Roman Romanovich Kachanov (Роман Романович Качанов; born 17 January 1967) is a Soviet and Russian film director, screenwriter, actor, and producer.

He is a film director and screenwriter of the films Demobbed, Down House, Tumbler, Arie, Gena Concrete and others.

According to polls by the magazine “Afisha” and the blogging platform “LiveJournal”, his films belong to the 100 important Russian films and 100 best films of all time in the Russian language.

Roman was born on 17 January 1967 in Moscow, USSR.

He began to work at the age of 14: first as a postman and later as a literature assistant to the writer Kir Bulychov.

In 1982-1984, while going to night school, he attended a course of direction as an auditing student at the High Courses for Film Directors.

In 1984, he enrolled in the faculty of script writing at the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), entered the course of K. K. Paramonova.

In the same year, he published the story "The Miracles of Technology" in the VGIK newspaper "The Way to the Screen", since then his writing career began.

In 1985, at the animation studio "Soyuzmultfilm", a cartoon "The Miracles of Technology" was based on this story.

Then Kachanov wrote the words to the song "Paper Dove" (composer Vladimir Shainsky).

In 1987, he wrote the play "Karpusha" ..

A cartoon of the same name was based on this play at Soyuzmultfilm in 1988.

Later, a book based on it was published.

As a writer, Kachanov mainly works under the name R. Gubin in order not to be confused with his father, Roman Kachanov.

In 1988, he wrote the script for Ivan Okhlobystin's short film debut "Nonsense. The story about nothing".

Kachanov studied on the same course with Renata Litvinova and Arkady Vysotsky.

On the parallel course Fyodor Bondarchuk, Aleksandr Bashirov, Ivan Okhlobystin, Tigran Keosayan, Bakhtyar Khudojnazarov, Rashid Nugmanov were studying at that time at the Directing Faculty.

Kachanov subsequently continued friendship and cooperation with many of them.

He graduated from VGIK in 1989.

In 1991, he made a film "Don't ask Me about the Thing".

The film starred Juozas Budraitis, Emmanuil Vitorgan, Nina Ruslanova, Natalya Krachkovskaya, including some young actresses – Irina Feofanova, Maryana Polteva.

"“Golan once made a film about Chicago during 30s in Moscow in 90s. The film 'Mad Dog Coll'. It was winter in 1991/1992. The scenery for Golan's film was placed in the Ostankino pavilions [...] Soviet rubles turned into paper at that time. We needed the money [for the film] so much. I found out where his room was at Ostankino. [...] He replied that he wouldn’t give me money, but he could help in something else. He said that he wouldn't dismantle the pavilions and sets until the end of his film editing, thus, another eight months were left. The sets will be located in the pavilions, they will be untouched with all stage property (furniture, carpets, artificial flowers in vases, and so on). He said that I could film using them for free. [...] After our first and last ten-minute acquaintance with him, [Golan's] sets and pavilions covered 80-90% of my film budget”."

The main roles in the film were played by Nikita Vysotsky and American rock singer Joanna Stingray.

According to the chronology of the film’s releases on the screens, Kachanov's debut work was the film "Freak", made in 1993.

The film was produced at the Artistical Joint "Ekran".

According to Kachanov, producer Menahem Golan played a significant role in the implementation of this project:

From 1993 to 1997, Kachanov shot advertisements and music videos.

The film premiered in 1994 at the "Oktyabr" cinema, in the Central House of Cinema (DRC), on Channel 1 of Ostankino and at the film festival "Kinotavr" (competitive programme).

The newspaper "Kommersant" wrote about it:

Due to the economic difficulties, which appeared after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the film premiered only in 1995.

Critics classify the film as "physiological cinema":

"“Indeed, why do processes of eating, tearing and copulation now and then appear on the screen, and why are they more meaningful and cinematographic than coughing, running nose, vomiting, micturition, defecation and ejaculation are? [...] And the center of attraction for the characters [of the film] is the laboratory, where they are tested for spermogram”"

In 1998, he shot the low-budget film "Maximilian".

The main roles in the film were played by Alexander Demidov (Kvartet I), Emmanuel Vitorgan, Nikita Vysotsky, Evgeny Dvorzhetsky, Ivan Okhlobystin and others.

The composer was Pavel Molchanov (the rock band "Time-Out").

In 2000, Kachanov made a film "Demobbed", which told stories of three young people who ended up in military service.

The following young actors played in the film for the first time: Stanislav Duzhnikov, Mikhail Petrovsky, Pyotr Korshunkov, Aleksei Panin, Mikhail Vladimirov and others.

The film’s stars of the Soviet cinema also played in the film: Viktor Pavlov, Juozas Budraitis, Aleksander Belyavsky, Sergei Artsibashev.

The role of the war veteran general was played by Vladimir Shainsky.

"'There is nothing more ridiculous than the struggle between good and evil', Kommersant newspaper, 02/06/1994“The Roman Kachanov's picture 'The Freak', made according to an excellent script by Ivan Okhlobystin, distinctly differ from all this severe and serious series of film narrations about the struggle between good and evil. [...] 'Freak' is a great example of Russian comedic hoax which proves that there is nothing more ridiculous than dreadful one. [...] It was made as having been frightened by what is happening around you, but it was so easy and fun at the same time that we did not notice any trace of it in the end of the film”"