I have known Valdis long enough. I know him well as an aviator, a paratrooper, a collector, a man who is very deeply interested in history in general and the history of aviation in particular. He is better known to the general public as a showman and TV presenter of such programs as «Guess the Tune» and «Rally». More advanced know him and as a musician - one of the founders of the band «Accident». But when in 2015, on the air of the First Channel, a four-part documentary film was released - «People Who Made the Earth Round», dedicated to ultra-long transpolar flights, which were made by the crews of V.P. Chkalov and M.M. Gromov, people started talking about him as a serious documentary filmmaker. After that Valdis made three more films, including the most interesting documentary about long-range aviation of the World War II - «Berlin Of the 41st. Only The Strongest Could Make It». And recently I was invited to the presentation of a new film by Valdis Pelsh, again about aviation and again about the military period - «Polar Brotherhood». The film is devoted to the cooperation of Soviet and British pilots in protecting the polar convoys and Murmansk in 1941. It should be noted that all these Valdis films are distinguished by the highest level of authenticity and elaboration of historical details, which, admittedly, is not often met now. After viewing this picture, I wanted to talk with the author about the process of creating such, without exaggeration, high-quality works.

- Valdis, tell us please, why all the same suddenly documentary and why aviation? After all, until recently, everyone knew you in a completely different way.

- Well, first of all, I very much hope that this is the last interview I give in the status of «Everyone knows you as the presenter of «Guess the Tune». After all, now it's as if everyone knows everything (laughs). As for aviation, it is in many ways a child's hobby. I even seriously intended to enter the flight school of military transport aviation. But I finished school at the age of 16, and only took it from 17. Well, I thought, why wait a year, took and entered the Philosophy Department of Moscow State University.

- What a twist!

-Yes. But the hobby for aviation still remains. Documentary has attracted me for a long time. And the opportunity came along. The fact is that I met Dmitry Khaustov, who is married to the granddaughter of Georgy Filippovich Baidukov, the second pilot Chkalov in those historical flights. And they, shortly before our acquaintance, quite by accident found the archives of Georgy Filippovich, about which no one for 20 years after his death in 1994 had even suspected. And it must be said that Baidukov was not only an outstanding pilot and military commander (he ended up serving as Deputy Chief of Air Defense of the country and the rank of Colonel-General), but he felt himself a writer all his life. So, these archives and diaries of Baidukov formed the basis of our first four-part work.

- And «Berlin of the 41st.» ... "? Why did the choice fall on such a topic?

- The idea of this film belongs to Konstantin Lvovich Ernst, the CEO of the 1st Channel. It was he who suggested that I should make a film about the bombing of Berlin.

- The picture was interesting.

- I agree. But to my great regret we didn’t find any of the participants of those famous and tragic raids on the German capital alive. We launched the project in June, and then we learned that the last participant of these events died literally in May - a skirmish of one of the bombers of the Vodopyanov division. The picture was saved in many respects by our great friend and consultant (he advised us even when creating the first film) - Vasily Vasilievich Reshetnikov, Soviet military pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, former deputy commander-in-chief of the USSR Air Force, Colonel-General of Aviation. During the war he flew on the Il-4 bomber (DB-3F). Although not in the 41st, but in 1942, took part in the bombing of Berlin and the Nazi command post in Angersburg. And, in addition, Vasily Vasilyevich is an excellent storyteller. So his help in making the film was simply invaluable.

- It seems to me, it is already extremely difficult to find eyewitnesses, and even more  the participants of various military events, especially if it is a question of the beginning of the war?

- Of course. Time is inexorable. However, we still managed to do this in our third film, «The Polar Brotherhood». We were able to find three Englishmen, two fighter pilots who fought against the Nazis in the sky over Murmansk, and one aircraft. They certainly revitalised our film very much. A low bow for them.

- Returning to the first film. Still it was the most ambitious work. Tell me, please, in more detail, where and how it was shot.

- Firstly, we flew to the Volga, to Chkalovsk. There is an ANT-25 of Chkalovsk crew. In Monino near Moscow, there is a copy of this aircraft. Inside, it is very different from the original. Being inside the real Chkalov plane gave much credibility to the picture. It is necessary to understand that during the flight to Vancouver the crew was and worked inside this very close space for as much as 63 (!!!) hours. We have studied this space in detail. We knew how the pilots slept on the oil tank. We changed places at the helm, as they did in flight (and it was extremely difficult to do it). We sat for a long time in a small reclining seat for the rest of one of the pilots, which, by the way, was installed after a record flight to Kamchatka. It was funny to read from Baidukov: «how much comfort this little seat added». And it is also necessary to understand that all this was happening in conditions of chatter and oxygen starvation, in heavy winter overalls. I literally imagined myself at the helm in place of Baidukov (and 42 hours during the flight the plane was guided by Baidukov), understood how Chkalov and Belyakov lay behind, how they bleed their ears from lack of oxygen (after all, the oxygen mask was only for the pilot). And then I was able to fully understand these events, to fully understand what these achievements were worth. And I understood that the «act of bravery», in relation to these people, wasn’t just a simple phrase at all.

And yet it is amazing that these people were not forced to perform such acts. There was no such situation when "The Party Ordered". No. This was only their initiative. And the two main «motors» - Gromov and Chkalov. This was twisted just around their enthusiasm, the whole preparation for record flights. At the same time people were very modest, they had no star fever or excessive ambition. For example, Chkalov became the commander of the crew when the three of them gathered for the next time, and Baidukov said: «I propose to appoint Valery as a commander», and they raised their hands with Belyakov. The Majority! (Laughs).

- True, they say that the main work during the record flights was performed by Baidukov, and Chkalov was, as is now customary to say, «an administrative resource»?

- No. This is not true. Yes, Baidukov was a more experienced pilot in long-distance flights. Chkalov was, after all, primarily a fighter. Yes, all the «blind» flights were Baidukov's work. But Valery Pavlovich was without a doubt a heroic personality. It is enough to look at the place on the island of Udd (and we shot there also), where they landed. It’s impossible to land there! But Chkalov landed. Because the landing was needed. And contour flights - this is Chkalov. For example, during the flight to the Far East, the part of the flight was over the Sea of ​​Okhotsk almost over the waves.

- The characters in your movie are not too enhanced, am I right?

- I do not think so. We made a movie about living people, and not about the popular characters. Although, for example, we threw out the entire topic of the relationship between Valery Pavlovich and alcohol, which caused much controversy in the feature film about him. Yes, he liked to drink. But he never did it at work. And never sat drunk at the wheel. Georgii Filippovich described the case when Chkalov refused to fly out of Khabarovsk, as he «abused» a bit the day before. And most importantly, this is not what characterises Chkalov's personality.

The character of Gromov was also difficult. But he was without a doubt an interesting man (the USSR champion in weight-lifting, a wonderful rider and, finally, a nobleman) and a unique pilot. No wonder he was called «Professor». They said: «He is flying 200 meters ahead of his plane». Note that this refers to a person then a little over 30 years of age.

At the suggestion of Gromov, the two crews had to fly to the pole with a difference of 40 minutes. But many understood that then the crew of the plane with the inscription on board the «Stalin route» would soon be ignored by a non-partisan crew (laughs). Ugly! And then the engine was removed from Gromov's plane, and he could fly out only in a month. That's such an intrigue! Although, the record of range was set by the crew of Mikhail Mikhailovich Gromov.

That's the kind of movie we got. No wonder we have four series. There is a living story, an adventure romance, a detective story, and a love story line. I'm talking about Chkalov's novel with Marlene Dietrich. In general, the film is not only about records and exploits, but about living people.

- I agree. And in the «Polar Brotherhood» you also managed to make a movie not only about aviation, but, first and foremost, about human relations.

- Exactly. We set this task. Still, we made films for a wide audience, and not for the «world of aviation» channel. And we wanted to show everyone an understandable relationship of people, and not just upload historical and technical facts.

- Unfortunately, the topic of interaction of the Allies in the World War II is not very popular with us now. But it's true that we fought together, that the help of the allies was important and the USSR needed.

- And this is indeed. We fought together. In our picture this is shown very clearly. We, it seems to me, in the movie «Polar Brotherhood» very correctly divided the attention between our and the British pilots. This in fact was in many ways a clash of two different worlds. Therefore, we paid much attention to various trifles - how the English went to a Russian bath, how they exchanged souvenirs ...      

- I would also like to note one important point. This of course is in all your films, but in the «Polar Brotherhood» it especially struck. This is a high-quality historical study and absolute historical certainty. All equipment, all photos and video documentation exactly corresponds to the selected historical period. Fighter Hurricane, for example, it was the 41st year. I looked closely. Not a single shot later flashed later «cannon» modifications. How did this happen?

- It was possible to achieve with only severe repressions (laughs). Somehow, they sent me a picture of Major Rook in his cap. A visor on it is round. And he does not have to be round in the 41st. I then just took a picture of one of my collection caps (Valdis collects military headdresses - author's note) and said: "Look, it must be like this!". That were the details we’ve even reached.

I believe that it should be in such way in everything. Every little thing is important. It's true, it's trust to the film, it's, after all, respect for those people about whom we shoot the documentaries. If the budget allows, you should not skimp on the services of consultants who must scrupulously view the entire footage. In «People Who Made the Earth Round», for example, having a very impressive editorial team, we first showed the film to Nina Georgievna Gromova, the wife of Mikhail Mikhailovich. And after her comments had to do something to remake, despite the lack of time and money.

After all, for example, in one of the films about the Stalin era it was mentioned that the entire country's leadership was afraid to fly by airplanes. Only one Ordzhonikidze flew boldly. And as an illustration of his flights in the film there is shown the German Junkers-87 and with a swastika on the fuselage.

- But how did you find the flying “Hurricane?"

- Well, what can I say. Lucky! (Laughs). Indeed in the UK, in Duxford we managed to find the aircraft which is the modification of the 1941st, which were supplied to the Soviet Union. I think shooting a "live" fighter also added some charm to our documentary.

- Well, I want to tell you, I'm not afraid of this word, from the entire aviation community, thank you very much for the quality and reliability of your work, which I, I say it absolutely sincerely, have never seen it before.

- You are welcome! (Laughs).

- The last question, as usual, about creative plans. Is there any desire to make a documentary about something else on aviation? About modern aviation, for example?

- The next historical film is not going to be about aviation. It will be about the fleet. This is already quite certain. As for aviation, there is a very good story. I do not know yet how or with whom to implement it. It seems to me that we can make a big film about civil aviation.

In 1938, after the death of Chkalov, a fantastic program was adopted for a round-the-world non-stop flight on the BOK-15 aircraft, the designer Vladimir Chizhevsky. Very few people know about this at all. This program has not been implemented. The war prevented it. Although, the aircraft BOK-15 was built and made several flights. So, I want to make a film about the history of civil aviation in our country, while making a parallel flight of Chkalov's memory on such a round-the-world route on a modern Russian liner, albeit not non-stop.

- What a grand idea!

- Yes, the idea, of course, is not cheap. Undoubtedly, it is possible to make an information event, to show the best of Russian planes, such as the SSJ 100 or MC-21. And, of course, this should also be a movie about people. About people who linked their fate with aviation. I understand that this is not a task of tomorrow. I understand that if we talk about the MC-21, the aircraft must complete a set of tests, get certified. But you need to think about such projects in advance.

- Valdis, I can only wish you success in implementing such large-scale plans. Once again many thanks for a very interesting conversation!