Some three or four months after completing his graduation project, Tarkovsky was offered the chance to direct a film based on Vladimir Bogomolov's novella Ivan. There had already been one attempt at the film: shooting had begun, half the budget had been spent, and the whole project was shut down due to the poor quality of the footage. Andrei refused for a long time to commit to filming until the concept had taken shape—until he had envisioned Ivan's dreams, the very core of what would become Ivan's Childhood! Once his terms were accepted, Andrei, together with Konchalovsky, rewrote the screenplay. But their names do not appear in the credits—only those of V. Bogomolov and M. Papava, the authors of the original draft. Many wonderful articles, studies, and memoirs have been written about the making of Ivan's Childhood. I had few opportunities to see Andrei during that period. I was busy