Cinematographer. Member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union since 1962. Born on December 29, 1931, in the city of Abdullino, Orenburg region of the RSFSR, in the family of a railway machinist. After finishing seven grades of secondary school in Bender and then the Republican School of Cinematography, he worked as a senior film technician at the Leovo District Department of Cinematography (Moldavian SSR) from 1949 to 1951. From 1951 to 1955, he served on ships of the Black Sea Navy as a senior cinema radio mechanic. At the same time, he completed his secondary education at an evening school in Sevastopol. In December 1955, after being discharged from service, he enrolled in the assistant operator courses at the Mosfilm studio.
Since 1958, he began working at "Kyrgyzfilm" as a combined shooting operator, then as a second operator on the films "The Girl from Tian Shan" (1961) by A. Ochkina, "The Pass" (1961) by A. Sakharov, and "Heat" (1963) by L. Shepitko. In 1962, V. Kotov enrolled in the correspondence department of the cinematography faculty at VGIK (graduated in 1973). For two years, he headed the combined shooting workshop. From 1966 to 1968, he was the chief engineer of the studio. From 1969 to 1970, he worked as the chief operator of "Kyrgyztelefilm".
In 1964-1965, V. Kotov independently shot short fiction films "Prayer" and "Pause" (dir. G. Bazarov). As a screenwriter and operator, he successfully presented the documentary film "Children of the Mountains - Sons of the Sea" (1965), and as an author-operator, he worked on the films "At the Youth Forum" (1966), "Intergelpo" (1969), and documentary television films "Route" (1970), "Right Flank" (1970).
In the late 60s and early 70s, V. Kotov passionately worked on feature films "Ak-Meyor" (1969, "Kyrgyztelefilm"), "Evening Outskirts", "On the Rapid" by M. Ubukeev (1971, 1972, "Kazakhtelefilm"), "Family Album" by A. Bolysbaev (1973, "Kazakhtelefilm"). However, he did not abandon documentary filmmaking. V. Kotov's extraordinary reporting abilities were vividly demonstrated in his authorial films such as "First Tests" (1972, "Kazakhtelefilm"), "Glassmakers" (1972), "Difficult Kilometers" (1973), "XX All-Union" (1973), and his cinematographic work on the films "Akin" (1968), "Who is for? Who is against? Who abstained?" (1974), "Chronicle of the Toktogul HPP" (1974), "Chronicle of Harsh Years" (1975), "Father's Home" (1976), "Good Shoots" (1977). In 1976, V. Kotov shot documentary films "Engineer", "Council of Secretaries" at the "Moldova-film" studio.
In the late 70s, he worked as a cinematographer on the satirical film magazine "Korogoch" (issues 15-22 for 1978).
Awards - Honorary Certificate of the Central Committee of the Komsomol (1969, for the film "Children of the Mountains - Sons of the Sea"). Certificate of the Supreme Soviet of the Kirghiz SSR (1969).
Member of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR since 1967.
WORKS ON THE OPERATOR'S CREATIVITY
Esengeldiev T. "Ak-Meyor" on the screen (in Kyrgyz).—"Leninchil Zhas", 1969, April 10. Artyukhov O. "Ak-Meyor".— "Komsomolets of Kyrgyzstan", 1969, April 26. Dobrodeev B. Speaking frankly.— "New Film", 1972, No. 19, p. 4. Ilyin R. The search for "televisionity".— "Soviet Radio and Television", 1969, No. 8, p. 8. Kosmatoye L. Cinematographer and television film.— "Soviet Radio and Television", 1969, No. 8, p. 9. Lipkoye A. Formation.— Collection "Multicolored Screen TV". Moscow, "Art", 1977, pp. 121-127.
FOREIGN FILM CRITICISM
Yontchev A., Grigorov R. United - Invincible (in Bulgarian).— "Film News", 1966, No. 11.
