Alexander Ivanovich Medvedkin

Aleksandr Medvedkin ( Russian Александр Иванович Медведкин , scientific. Transliteration Aleksandr Ivanovich Medvedkin ; February * 24 ^{. Jul} / 8. March  1900 ^greg. In Penza , Russian Empire ; † 19 February 1989 in Moscow ) was a film director of the Russian avant-garde .

life and work

Alexander Medvedkin first attended an engineering school when he volunteered in an equestrian squadron in 1919, where he participated in the civil war in the Soviet Union. In 1920 he became a member of the Communist Party and after the end of the war he worked in an amateur theater, where he played mainly in satirical plays. In 1927 he began filming at Studio Goswojenkino, the State Army Film Studio, and initially directed military educational films , but also assisted directors such as Nikolai Ochlopkow . In addition to directing satirical short films, he tried to motivate his silent films politically in order to achieve an immediate operational effect.

Today he is one of the silent film pioneers who emerged as a politically committed film writer in what was then the Soviet Union during the 1930s . Medvedkin conceived the film train after a decision of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1932 - an unusual cinematic project with which Medvedkin wanted to increase the motivation of workers and peasants for the construction of socialism . The film train rolled through the Soviet Union with around 30 employees, the equipment necessary for filming, an editing suite and a complete development laboratory. Medvedkin's team documented the people at work and in production during the day and showed them the resulting film for discussion in the evening; Reason for critical reflection on interaction, communication and production and working methods - but also for charges against bureaucracy , sabotage and negligence. The film train, which was on the road from 1932 to 1935, often returned to old locations months later to document changes.

Little of this footage has survived. Nikolaj Iswolow reconstructed short films made and handed down in this context . The 1935 revolutionary film Happiness is also still preserved.

In 1967, after more than 30 years of filmmaking, Medvedkin came into the public eye during the Leipzig Documentary and Short Film Week. His film The Shadow of the Private was honored with a special award at this festival and he came into contact with the French documentary filmmaker Chris Marker, who was inspired by his work and later dedicated a documentary to him. During the 1960s and 1970s, Medvedkin's concept of film documentation of living and working conditions of the working class was taken up. French workers groups and cineastes formed several "Medvedkin groups".

Works (selection)

• How are you, comrade miner?
• There is no cultural work!
• What are you doing, dear comrades?
• 1935: happiness
• 1938: The new Moscow

Sources (selection)

• 1979: Medwedkin's cinema train (Le train en marche) film essay by Chris Marker , France

DVDs

• Le Tombeau d'Alexandre ET Le Bonheur - COFFRET 2 DVD, édition arte, 2005
• Les Groupes Medvedkine - Coffret 2 DVD, Éditions Montparnasse, 2006

Web links

• Aleksandr Medvedkin in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Biography , encyclopedia cinema (Russian)