Ivan's Childhood
Mosfilm gave the screenplay to the young film director Eduard Abalov. Shooting was aborted and the film project was terminated in December 1960, since the first version of the film drew heavy criticism from the arts council, and the quality was deemed unsatisfactory and unusable. In June 1961 the film project was given to Tarkovsky, who had applied for it after being told about "Ivan's Childhood" by cinematographer Vadim Yusov. Work on the film resumed in the same month. The film was shot for the most part near Kanev at the Dnieper River.