Larisa Efimovna Shepitko was born on January 6, 1938 in the Artemovsk town of the Donetsk Region of Ukraine. She graduated from the VGIK (the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography) having started acting in films, namely The Poem about the Sea, and An Ordinary Story. Larisa’s graduation work – the feature film Heat after Chingiz Aitmatov’s story Camel Eye - was shot in Kyrgyzstan and won a debut prize at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival in 1964.  The premiere of the film Wings directed by Larisa Shepitko gained her great popularity in 1966. This movie tells about the destiny of the pilot woman Natalia Petrukhina. Her following movie Electricity Homeland was included into the almanac Nachalo Nevedomogo Veka (Beginning of an Unknown Era) along with two other movies but censorship blocked its way to the screen.