(22.02.1920 – 22.03.2007)

Elbert Tuganov is known as the father of Estonian animation. Tuganov was born in Baku, Azerbaijan to an Estonian mother and an Ossetian father. After years spent in Germany, he settled in Estonia. In 1946, he joined Tallinnfilm studio where he drew and painted titles and credit sequences. It was years later when he put a start to the puppet animation division today known as Nukufilm and directed his first puppet film “Little Peter’s Dream” in 1958. In total, Tuganov directed nearly 40 animated films.