Aleksandr Khanzhonkov

Born Aleksandr Alekseevich Khanzhonkov
8 August 1877
Khanzhonkovka, Don Host Oblast, Russian Empire
Died 26 September 1945 (aged 68)
Yalta, Crimean Oblast, Soviet Union
Occupations Producer, film director
Years active 1905–1926

Aleksandr Alekseevich Khanzhonkov (Russian: Александр Алексеевич Ханжонков, IPA: [ɐlʲɪˈksandr ɐlʲɪˈksʲejɪvʲɪtɕ xənˈʐonkəf]; 8 August [O.S. 27 July] 1877 — 26 September 1945) was a pioneering Russian cinema entrepreneur, film director and screenwriter. He is known for producing Defence of Sevastopol, Russia's first feature film, as well as Ladislas Starevich's ground-breaking stop motion animation. Most of his career was in Russian Empire. During 1923-1926 he worked in the Soviet Union, where his career ended with a financial scandal, however his past achievements earned him a personal pension and an apartment from the state.

Khanzhonkov was born in the small village of Khanzhonkova of the Don Host Oblast (modern-day Makiivka, Donetsk Oblast) into a noble family of Don Cossacks. His father Alexei Petrovich Khanzhonkov was a landlord who went bankrupt. His mother Paraskeva Sergeevna Khanzhonkova (née Dmitrieva) came from a colonel's family who owned a Singer shop in Moscow. The noble title was first granted to Aleksandr's great-grandfather Vasily Khanzhonkov.