Vadim Abdrashitov’s father was a soldier, but he also introduced his son to the world of art. The man played the violin and mandolin, liked to sing and taught the child to read – there was a huge library in the house, which always moved with the family throughout the USSR. It is not surprising that Vadim Abdrashitov gravitated to a creative profession as a child: he became interested in photography when his cousin gave him a Komsomolets camera and with pleasure visited the children’s theater studio.
But everything changed with Yuri Gagarin’s flight into space in 1961. Abdrashitov was 16 years old then, and it was time to decide on his future profession. The teenager passed the final exams as an external student and hurried to Moscow, where he entered the famous Physical and Mathematical Institute in Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region, at the Faculty of Chemical Physics. However, thoughts of creativity still did not let go of him and how could he detach himself from them – there was a “thaw” in the 1960s, cultural life was boiling even among physicists, there was a renaissance of spiritual life in the countryside. Abdrashitov was increasingly convinced that he wanted to make films. It took almost 10 years for him to make up his mind and make a decision that would once again drastically change his life.
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In 1970, two important events happened in Abdrashitov’s life at once: he entered VGIK for directing in the studio of the great Mikhail Romm and married Natella Toidze, who became his main muse and love for life. Abdrashitov was then 25 years old, his chosen one was 20 years old.
They met in the House of Cinema. Vadim Abdrashitov presented his thesis here, the short film “Stop Potapov!”. Natella, who only heard his voice, immediately realized that he was her man. They did not break up again.
Natella was from a creative family. Her father was the famous sculptor Georgy Toidze, winner of four Stalin Prizes, author of the famous poster “Motherland is calling!”.
Natella herself continued the creative dynasty and became an artist. Today she is an academician of the Russian Academy of Arts and a recognized artist of the Russian Federation.
Although both were at the beginning of their creative journey, they did not postpone the birth of their first child. When Abdrashitov graduated from VGIK, son Oleg was born, and in 1980, daughter Nana was born.
In a way, the children continued the work of their parents. The son inherited his father’s first profession. He also became interested in physics, graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, which Abdrashitov never received a diploma from, then Columbia University and then stayed to work in the US.
“And we miss him, and we miss him, but here we still can’t find a job in this specialty,” Abdrashit commented on the departure of his son in 2005.
Daughter Nana continued the family tradition from her mother’s side and became an artist. She graduated from the scenography faculty of GITIS, then worked with the Great Theater. Tovstonogov, Moscow Art Theater. AP Chekhov, Theater of Nations, Sovremennik, Theater. Leningrad City Council and other famous theaters. Nana also became famous as a costume designer and graphic illustrator. He has three children.
During his lifetime, Abdrashitov spoke little about his personal life. As if to protect his “fortress”, he often limited himself to short phrases and “profile” data in interviews: married, has children, happy.
Abdrashitov made his last film in 2003 – it was the film “Magnetic Storms”, after which he focused on teaching at VGIK. Among his students was the famous Pyotr Buslov.
Abdrashitov was sincerely worried about the development of Russian cinema, which he was not afraid to talk about publicly.
“If Russian cinema loses the ground of our culture, it will have consequences at the level of a humanitarian disaster,” he believed.
The director died on February 12 at the age of 79 from cancer.