Kachanov debuted as a film director at 24 in 1991 with Don't Ask Me About a Thing. The shooting base was located in Riga, Latvia. The film was one of the last made in the USSR before its dissolution; its premiere did not take place until 1995 because of the economic difficulties in Russia. In 1993 Kachanov's film Freak was released. Its premiere took place during the Kinotavr festival within the competitive programme. From 1993 to 1997, Kachanov shot advertisements and music videos. His low-budget film Maximilian was released in 1998. Kachanov's Demobbed was successful with audiences and critics and at Russian and foreign festivals. Many phrases from the film entered the spoken language as aphorisms.. It was named at 100 best Russian movies in the famous Russian magazine "Afisha". In 2001 Kachanov released Down House, a loose adaptation of Fedor Dostoevsky's novel The Idiot. It was shown both in and out of competition at festivals, and was successful like Demobbed.Down House has been included in Modern cinema and Modern Russian cinema courses at some Russian and foreign cinema schools. Kachanov's next project, Arie was the 50-year love story of a Jewish couple, with flashbacks to the time of the Holocaust, when they were both teenagers. Production took place in Lithuania and Israel and took more than two years, being completed in 2004. In 2005 Kachanov worked as a director on the eight-episode TV-series Vzyat Tarantinu. This was mostly shot in Los Angeles. In 2006–2007 Kachanov directed Tumbler, a sports comedy about the boxing. For greater authenticity, some of the roles were played by boxers rather than actors. Kachanov's next project, Gena Concrete, began shooting in 2008. Production was frozen in 2009 after the primary investor declared temporary insolvency; in 2012 the Federal Fund of the National Cinematography decided to support the film, and Kachanov completed production in November 2013. The film was to premiere in 2014. Kachanov also works as a script writer.
Private life
His father was Roman A. Kachanov, a famous Russian animator. His mother, Gara Kachanova, was an engineer-economist. Kachanov's parents died in 1993, when Roman was 26 years old. Roman Kachanov married the actress Anna Buklovskaya in 1998. They have two daughters, Polina and Alexandra, but the marriage broke up. Roman remarried to the actress and model Angelina Chernova; they have two daughters, Gara and Dina.
Don't ask Me about the Thing – The Patient in the Queue
Demobbed – The Quartermaster Lieberman
Gena Concrete – The Killer
Selected awards
2000 – Demobbed – Golden Arie "for the Best filmscript"
2000 – Demobbed – Kinotavr – Prize of the Guild of Russian Film Scholars and Film Critics"White Elephant"* 2001 – Down House – Kinotavr – Special Jury Prize"for the New cinema language search"* 2001 – Down House – Special Jury Prize"for the unprecendented adaptation of the novel of Fedor DostoevskyIdiot"at the Russian festival in Gatchina
2004 – Arie – Prize"for the Best film"at the Russian festival Amursk autumn in Blagoveshensk
2013 – The Scroll of Honor of Russian Ministry of Culture"for substantial contribution to the national cinematography development"* 2013 – Demobbed – Film was included in the list of"100 main films of 1992–2013"according to the Russian cultural magazine Afisha.
International
2000 – Demobbed – FIPRESCI Prize:"for its humour and for the ironic look on Russian society which allows to overcome tragedies of everyday life and might open doors to the new cinema".
