After graduating from the Faculty of Philology, Alexander Vladimirovich Bogatyryov proved himself in many areas of writing and directing. He received several high honors in journalism. During his life, Bogatyrev traveled a lot where, which, undoubtedly, was reflected in his career.
The beginning of the creative path
Bogatyrev Alexander graduated from St. Petersburg University, studying at the Faculty of Philology. At first, to feed himself, he worked as a watchman. Then he began to teach English at one of the schools, and then at the library college. True, teaching did not last long. Alexander Bogatyrev devoted all his free time to creativity.
As a student, he began to write scripts, short stories and short plays, and became interested in translations. He read his creations at meetings of non-conformist artists in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Four theaters of St. Petersburg wanted to stage his play Edelweiss, but Soviet strict censorship did not allow it. For the same reason, Alexander Bogatyrev could not make the film "I am back, father" according to a paid script.
Wanderings
While working in the journal Literary Study, Alexander Bogatyrev went on a business trip to hot Tajikistan. There he met the flavor of the life of local people, made acquaintances with writers, and created a script for a Tajik studio. At the same time, Alexander began translation activities.
After he went to the north of the vast country to collect material for new scenarios. For two years, from 1985 to 1986, Alexander Bogatyrev traveled from Vologda to Arkhangelsk. The stops were made in the villages where the screenwriter communicated with the local population. He recognized the world around him from the inside, recognized the people, their way of life, way of life and character. After a couple of years according to the script of Bogatyrev, the then-famous director Alexander Sidelnikov made the documentary "Transfiguration".
The writer had to travel for a long time. After wandering around Siberia, four documentaries were shot. A trip to Western countries presented the film "About Russia with Love", which was shot in France, namely in Paris.
Alexander Bogatyrev often traveled to Abkhazia and Georgia, where he visited a considerable number of parishes and monasteries. Now the writer lives either in St. Petersburg or in Sochi, but in his heart he dreams of living in a quiet town or village, far from the hustle and bustle.
Village Life
After numerous trips, Alexander wanted to go to the countryside for permanent residence. In 1986, the writer’s family settled in the village of Berezayka in the Tver region. There they lived a little over ten years, until both daughters graduated from high school. Then they moved with their whole family to St. Petersburg.
Village life very much brought the author of living stories about ordinary people to the "Russian world". Alexander Bogatyrev turned from a stingy Westerner into a simple man with a Russian open soul.
About the book of stories “Bucket of forget-me-nots”
Without a twinge of conscience, we can say that “Leskov of our time” is Alexander Bogatyrev. Books are read with great growing interest, because the plot line in them is unpredictable. His stories on the approach to problems and on the style of presentation resemble the work "Trivia of Bishop's Life". They also have village priests, vivid images of parishioners, holy fools and wandering around the world. But unlike Leskov’s stories, Bogatyrev’s actions take place all over the world: Siberia, the Russian outback, the capital, Tbilisi, Abkhazia, America, Sochi, Estonia.
Alexander manages to see in people something special, unique. The narrative in the stories is very lively, reading, you can cry and laugh out loud. The narrator can fool around like local villagers on a bench, and can plunge into deep thoughts and amaze with remarks and thoughts about what is happening in life. The book recreates the image of the era through a series of unique images. The author writes about the Soviet era, about the dashing 90s, as well as about the "stagnant" 80s.
Achievements
Alexander collaborated with the Lennauchfilm film studio, and also wrote scripts for the St. Petersburg documentary film studio, starting in 1983. More than 30 films were filmed according to his author's scripts. Since 1992, he has been filming documentaries himself, speaking as a screenwriter and director.
At the same time, he writes articles on historical, relevant social and political topics. Most of all, Bogatyrev pays attention to church Orthodox subjects. In 2004, at the Christmas Readings in Moscow, he was recognized as the best journalist of the year. Today, he is a regular author and laureate of the literary prize "Russian Binding". Alexander was awarded the title of Golden Pen, authors from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine took part in this nomination.
For more than a decade, the writer has been a member of the jury of the Radonezh film festival. He is often invited to other festivals. Now his stories are published on the sites "Orthodoxy.ru" and "Radonezh". Among the film industry and publishing houses, many know Alexander Bogatyrev. The photo from the presentation of Bogatyrev's collection “The Bucket of Forget-Me-Nots” once again speaks of the significance of the author, of the readers' interest in his work.