Uchitel was born into a
Jewish family in
Tiraspol. His father worked as a typesetter at a newspaper. He died in 1918, and the family became dependent on Uchitel's older brother. His older sister worked as a cashier at a movie theater, and presumably inspired Uchitel's interest in filmmaking and photography. After finishing the seventh grade, he was sent to
Leningrad to study at an industrial school. Later, he worked at the brick and mechanical plant. In 1929 he joined the All-Union Leninist Young Communist League. From 1930 to 1935, Uchitel studied at the cameraman's department of the
Leningrad Institute of Film Engineers. Upon graduation, he worked as an assistant cameraman, and from 1937 he worked as a cameraman at the
Leningrad studio of newsreels. From June 1941, he worked as a cameraman and director in the film group of the
Leningrad Front and the
67th Army. From 1964, he was head of the Lenkinochronik. Throughout his career, Uchitel made more than 50 documentaries. == Awards ==