On September 29, legendary Russian film director Tatyana Lioznova died in Moscow at the age of 88.

Lioznova is known, first of all, as the maker of the first Soviet series, titled “Seventeen Moments of Spring”. 

The plot is set in the last days of WWII, and the main character is a high-ranking official in Nazi Germany, who really is Russian and works for Soviet intelligence services.

Shot in 1973, this film was a tremendous success.

Another well-known work of Tatyana Loiosnova is “Three Poplars at Plyuschikha Street,” a sad and touching love story.

Liosnova has shot only 9 films. However, critics say that “The Three Poplars” alone is enough to call her a genius.

Tatyana’s life was not easy. In her youth, she was sent down from the Institute of Cinematography with a strange formulation “for lack of life experience.” However, Tatyana never imagined another career for herself that that of a filmmaker. But it took her gigantic efforts to prove that she was quite capable of being a film director. She wrote film scenarios, staged theater productions, worked as a film director’s assistant. Sometimes, she had no work at all, and had to sew and sell dresses to earn her living. But she never gave up and never complained.

Finally, success came. Tatyana was allowed to make films and even series.

Lioznova had a rare talent for choosing actors. She could see an actor’s hidden talents like no one else.

She shot her last movie in 1986. Since then, she shot no films, saying that she didn’t feel the audience’s moods well enough. However, each time when her old films were shown on TV, Lioznova received hundreds of grateful letters from TV viewers.

This item was written by Nina Yahontova.