Former cartoonist and children's book writer and illustrator who established his reputation as a director of children's films for adults with the 60-minute feature, "Someone's Ringing, Open the Door" (1965) which won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Festival of Children's films. Mitta's subsequent films include "Gori, Gori, Mjoa Zvezda/Shine Brightly My Star" (1970), about an actor's attempts to set up a people's theater during the Russian civil war, the satirical "A Full Stop, A Full Stop, A Comma", the thriller "The Crew", the poetic fantasy, "A Tale of Wanderings" (1984), "The Step"
