Aleksandr Mikhailovich Tatarsky was born on 11 December 1950 in Kiev. He graduated from Kiev Institute of Theatre and Cinema as a film scenarist, critic and editor and also studied at the specialized three year long Animators Courses at Goskino USSR.

From 1968 he was into animation at Kievnauchfilm studio, making his way from a filler to film director. In 1980 he moved to Moscow to work as a film director in the animation studio Ekran (The Screen).

From 1988 on he was the founder and the art director of the Moscow animation studio Pilot (School of New Screen Technologies). The Pilot studio became the first independent film studio in the post-Soviet Russia. High creative and productive potential of the studio made it possible to implement the largest project in the history of Russian animation - The Mount of Gems, collected short-length cartoons after tales of Russia’s peoples.

Most of the films by Aleksandr Tatarsky and Pilot studio have festival awards. The bumper for the children’s telecast Spokoinoi Nochi, Malyshi! (in English, roughly: "Good Night, Kids") was included into the Guinness Book of Records by the number of broadcasts.

 

The most famous characters created by Tatarsky are the Kolobki Brothers, later renamed into Pilot Brothers. They were not only heroes of several animations, but also the first virtual hosts on Russian TV.

A gifted animator, he was also the author and director of a number of commercial films.

Mr. Tatarsky was President of the Open Russian Animated Film Festival in Suzdal and Head of Animation Section under the Union of Cinematographers.

Aleksandr Tatarsky died of a heart failure during sleep on 22nd July 2007, aged 56. He was laid to rest at Miusskoe Cemetery.