Anatoly Kokush: Don’t copy famous artists, create unique items
Finalists of the XII DYTIATKO International Children’s Media Festival watched today the movie “Kokush U. Crane” about Anatolyi Kokush, a legendary man in the Ukrainian and world cinema space, the owner of two Oscar statuettes for inventions that opened a new direction in film technology and film image.
The main developments of Anatoly Kokush are: hyrostabilized operator crane “Avtorobot”, operator cranes of the cascade series, operator stabilized systems “Flight Head”. Many well-known domestic and foreign films have been shot using this equipment, including “Fast and furious”, “Titanic”, “War of the worlds”, “Batman”, “The da Vinci Code”, “Mission impossible”, “X-Men”, “Mr. and Mrs. Smith”, “Harry Potter”, “Mamai” and many others.
“In my childhood, which was spent in the city of Kerch in the Crimea, I attended a photo club and a group of cameramen at the young technicians station,” Anatoly Kokush recalls.
I was so interested in this activity that I wanted to enter Russian State University of Cinematography named after S. Gerasimov, but realizing that this may remain a pipe dream, I chose the Institute of film engineers. I am still happy about this, because my field of work is on the verge of, so to speak, two specialties: cinema and invention, and these are exactly the things that I wanted to do in my youth, which later became the core of my life.”
Anatoly Kokush, answering questions from young filmmakers, advised them to look for something of their own, not to copy someone, regardless of what field of film or television they will work in as adults.
“Cinema take almost a lifetime. You need to decide, and it is difficult to make a choice in which direction you will work. But whatever it is, it is worth doing something outstanding, something that no one has done before you, do not copy famous masters.
In my professional career, I have often heard that my ideas are not needed by anyone, that this has never happened in the world, that it is technically impossible, life-threatening, and there may be problems with the legislative sphere. I’ve heard it in our country, I’ve heard it in America.
The more difficult the task is, the more interesting it is for me. I had to prove it. And it was these barriers that brought me together, and I gathered a team of like-minded people with whom bold technical ideas and inventions became real developments that opened up new opportunities for filming and are in demand in the film world, ” Anatoly Kokush says.
According to Anatoly Kokush, he experienced incredible emotions when he received the Oscar.
“It was very exciting, the euphoria that you and your team did something that no one else has done. This award is for an invention that opened up new directions in film technology and film image. We were proud of what we did.
In the end, we understand that those who use our products, and this is a lot of film studios in the world, viewers who see high-quality shooting, they do not think that someone got an award for it. Therefore, we are proud that we have the opportunity to do interesting things in our production that no one else has done before. This is probably the most important thing,” the winner of the world’s highest film award “Oscar” said.
Anatoly Kokush thanked for the opportunity to communicate with young people and noted that his fifteen-year-old daughter is also interested in movies and blogging.
“Be unique, look for yourself, there are many specialties in cinema where you can implement your own talent. A favorite activity always captures and inspires despite all the difficult situations in life. Unfortunately, the pandemic made changes to everyone’s plans, for example, we stopped a lot of filming. But life goes on, and I wish you all success!”
