Pyotr had only finished 9 classes when the World War II forced his family to evacuate first to Stalingrad, then to Novouzensky District of the Saratov Oblast.

[4] For more than 60 years, Todorovsky had been searching for his brother Ilya who was called to arms at the very beginning of the fights on the Eastern Front in 1941.

A graduate of Kiev Artillery School, Ilya reached the rank of senior lieutenant and was a platoon commander.

Only in 2004, a hand-written document was discovered that mentioned Todorovsky Ilya Yefimovich among the killed on January 21, 1942, in fights near the village Vodosye, Leningrad region.

[5] Over the course of his career, which spanned more than 50 years, Todorovsky had filmed many movies that achieved cult status in the USSR and Russia.

Not only did he create sharp and honest war films, based on his personal experience,[6] but later on he also made insightful observations of the changing society: a transition of the Khruschev years to Brezhnevite stagnation, followed by Perestroika and groundshaking shifts when Soviet system was opening up to the outside world.

[15] His best-known film, Intergirl, was released in 1989, and became a box office hit: it was watched by 40 million viewers in cinemas.

[18] It was also entered into the 34th Berlin International Film Festival, where Inna Churikova won the Silver Bear for Best Actress.