The name of the Honored Art Worker, artist, animator Yevgeny Ivanovich Mikhelson is well known in Turkmenistan. More than one generation of young citizens of the country has grown up on animated films created by Evgeny Mikhelson. Many of the boys and girls who have become adults today, fathers and mothers, still remember the adventures of a homeless puppy Kongurj, who was looking for friends - the first animated film in the history of Turkmen cinema.
Evgeny Mikhelson was born in the city of Petropavlovsk, in Northern Kazakhstan. In early childhood, he became an orphan. At the age of twelve, Zhenya, who discovered great talent for drawing, was sent to study in Leningrad, to a secondary school for gifted children at the Institute named after I.E. Repin of the Academy of Arts.
The young artist studied at school for five years. He studied well, his works were exhibited at international exhibitions of children's drawings in England, India and other countries. In a word, everything went well, but when the holidays began, longing came to the boy's heart. There were no relatives or acquaintances in the city, and besides, they were plagued by constant dampness, cold and rain. And he so dreamed of the sun. Once I could not stand it. Without finishing the last course I got on the train and went to meet the warmth and light, to Ashgabat.
In the sunny capital, the young artist began to try himself in different genres. Once, his creative quest led him to the Ashgabat television studio. He worked as a decorator, set designer, director. During the filming of the feature film "Serdar" Yevgeniy met the young actor Baba Annanov. Thus began a friendship that lasted a lifetime.
Baba introduced Zhenya Mikhelson to Nury Khalmamedov, who also became his close friend. Nury, in turn, brought Kurbannazar Ezizov. So a circle of friends gradually developed. Often, music sounded in Mikhelson's small room until morning - Nury Khalmamedov played his new works on an old piano, Kurbannazar Ezizov and Yuri Ryabinin read their poems here, showed new paintings by Durdy Bayramov and Stanislav Babikov. It was a holiday of communication - young, talented, in love, passionate, they argued about life, about art, together they discussed creative ideas.
Friends warmly supported Mikhelson's idea to try his hand at animation, and drew his attention to the plot of Kerim Kurbannepesov's poem "Homeless Kongurja". He read it, and enthusiastically took up a new business. The dolls, according to the drawings by Evgeny Mikhelson, were made at the Soyuzmultfilm studio. Soon the idea of creating a national animation became a reality. In 1972, the first Turkmen cartoon was released.
“The attitude to“ Homeless Kongurja ”of all those who created it was more than reverent, - said Evgeny Ivanovich. - The birth of the first child is always a great event! The whole team worked with great love, selflessly. I remember that time with pleasure. The music for the cartoon was written by Nury Khalmamedov. Brilliant music. "
One can, of course, be surprised why the composer, whose fame has already crossed the borders of the country, behind whose shoulders were symphonies and music for the films "Competition" and "The Decisive Step", which glorified Turkmen cinema, made it recognizable largely thanks to the unforgettable "Halmamed" melodies, postponed serious music aside and started working on an experimental 10-minute film. Is it really only out of a sense of friendship with the cartoonist? To answer this question, you need to know the history of the composer's life. Nury Khalmamedov remained a child until his last days. Childhood did not let him go. Perhaps participation in the creation of the cartoon became a kind of tribute to his childhood. In addition, he had common features with the main character: he grew up an orphan, like Kongurja, he also looked for true friends, and knew the value of friendship and devotion. I must say that the same circumstances led to the cinema for children and Evgeny Mikhelson.
It only at first glance seems that work in the field of puppet animation does not require much effort: sit for yourself, play with the dolls, move them in different directions. Animation is, first of all, colossal patience. To revive the frozen figures, sometimes you have to fiddle with them for many hours in a row, for the sake of just one frame. At the same time, the animator must also be a good actor in order to be able to get used to the role of each character, to give him unique features, character, to make them recognizable, in a word, to humanize. And again the question arises: why does an adult, a professional, who clearly understands that, ultimately, the red carpet of prestigious international film festivals, need to spend so much energy, nerves and time so that the donkey, for example, takes off, and the puppy and little hare played leapfrog?
“Exactly for the sake of this very moment!” Yevgeny Ivanovich exclaims. “When I first saw how Kongurja began to play and talk on the screen, I was delighted and shocked. He lived his own puppy life! And I fell in love with him.
It was worth so much work for this.“ Since then, he has never parted with animation. It has become a lifelong affair. “I remember how at one time at the festival of animated films in Armenia,” Yevgeny Ivanovich recalled, “after watching our film“ Churek and Baby ”, in which the main idea was to foster respect for work, respect for bread, local people approached me the old people said: “It is wonderful that bread is so sacred in your country in Turkmenistan. These are the films we need to bring up our children! " And that praise was also worth the work.
They say that children need to work as seriously as adults, only better. Mikhelson understood how important play is for children. Cartoons are not edifying videos, cartoon characters speak with children in a language that is understandable for children. These are kind, wise, fun lessons that help toddlers develop character and set moral priorities.
In just over thirty years of work, Evgeny Mikhelson has created more than three dozen animated films. They are still shown on the screens of our country. And not only ours. Turkmen cartoons are available in the film distribution funds of Russia, Belarus, Lithuania, Georgia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan. The scripts were written by wonderful masters of the word - Kayum Tangrykuliev, Annaberdy Agabaev and other Turkmen poets and prose writers. The music for eight animated films was written by Nury Khalmamedov. And each time it was an exact hit on the topic, and the topic always remained the same - childhood. The last animated film for which he composed music was called "Why does a camel eat a thorn?"
About his friend Nury Evgeny Ivanovich could talk endlessly.
-Nury understood movie music like no other. Recall at least the soundtrack, as they would say now, to the film "The Decisive Step", or to the TV movie "Kech Pelek". When this tape was shown on television, even before it went on the air, everyone cried - the music was so mesmerizing, heavenly. Nura had a talent from God. He was not tormented by the torment of creativity. It seemed that the melodies themselves flew to him from somewhere above, from heavenly heights. When Nura and I came to Moscow to dub Homeless Kongurji, we expected that we would be given a small orchestra for a little cartoon. When we learned that we had been assigned a symphony orchestra, they grabbed our heads - there were almost a hundred musicians. And the term for scoring is only three days. If by this time the music is not written, the Turkmenfilm film studio will incur colossal simple losses. Nury reassured: "Everything will be fine."
He locked himself in a hotel room, and by the next morning the score was ready on the table. Moreover, the music was scheduled separately for each instrument. That is, he disinterestedly did the work that is entrusted to special people from the orchestra. Note that there was no piano in the hotel room. At the artistic council that hosted our cartoon, everyone was unanimous: wonderful music!
Nury possessed the magic of attracting people to him. He was madly loved by women, he was respected by men. He was a very deep person, with his own, original judgment about everything. He was not very talkative, he was more silent, but even in his silence there was a depth that was transmitted to you.
Having been engaged in animation for many years, Evgeny Mikhelson did not forget about his artistic vocation. He illustrated children's books, proved himself as a theater artist, having designed children's performances of the Russian Drama Theater named after A.S. Pushkin "The Adventures of Khudaiberdy", "Bovendzhik", "Mowgli", as well as performances for adults.
Evgeny Ivanovich did not forget about his main vocation - painting. His watercolor still lifes and landscapes were exhibited at various art exhibitions in Ashgabat. It was a real festival of colors. Next to a bluish-black bunch of grapes, covered with a whitish fruity patina, poured green apples scattered. Juicy yellow-orange peaches in young velvet skin beckoned to them. Modest irises in a vase smiled tenderly and shyly. Wine blazed with rubies in tall glasses. The old silver dishes on the table gleamed dully. All this I wanted to touch, smell, taste. And fruits, and wine and flowers were depicted with such skill that they themselves asked for hands. Still lifes replaced Turkmen landscapes and it seemed that the smells of earth after rain and blooming gardens were intertwined in the canvas of thick aromas of oriental sweets.
Paying tribute to his friends, those who brought fame and fame to Turkmen art, the artist created a gallery of national cinema figures. From the cardboard sheets, the courageous and beautiful faces of the young Baba Annanov, the piercing Artyk Dzhalyev, the wise Shukur Kuliev, the charming Antonina Rustamova, the stern Khodjon Ovezgelenov are looking at me. Akmurad Byashimov smiled with his unique, infectious smile, thoughtfully looked at us through the eyes of the sage Nury Khalmamedov. They were all so alive that I wanted to come up and shake hands with them.
“I am proud that fate brought me together with amazing, wonderful, outstanding people,” said Evgeny Ivanovich Mikhelson. - These people, friends of my distant and such a beautiful youth, had a huge influence on me both in my profession and in life. Their kindness, originality, honesty, decency, inner strength formed in me an idea of what real Turkmens should be like. Not everyone manages to live life doing what they love and have a number of loyal, devoted, endlessly talented friends. In this sense, I was lucky, and this, probably, is happiness.
