Alexander Dovzhenko

Alexandr Dovzhenko

Alexandr Dovzhenko
Born Oleksandr Petrovych Dovzhenko
September 10, 1894(1894-09-10)
Sosnytsia, Russian Empire (now Ukraine)
Died November 25, 1956(1956-11-25) (aged 62)
Peredelkino, Soviet Union (now Russia)
Occupation Film director, screenwriter
Years active 1926 - 1956
Spouse Yuliya Solntseva

Alexandr Petrovych Dovzhenko (Russian: Александр Петрович Довженко, Ukrainian: Олександр Петрович Довженко, September 10 [O.S. August 29] 1894 – 25 November 1956), was a Soviet screenwriter, producer and director of films, and is often cited as one of the most important early Soviet filmmakers, alongside Sergei Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin.

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Biography

Alexandr Dovzhenko was born in the district of Viunyshche in Sosnytsia, a townlet located in the Russian Empire (now part of the Chernihiv oblast in Ukraine), to Petro Semenovych Dovzhenko and Odarka Ermolaivna Dovzhenko. (His paternal ancestors were Cossacks who settled in Sosnytsia in the eighteenth century, coming from the neighbouring province of Poltava.) Alexandr was the seventh of fourteen children, but due to the horrific rate of child loss he became the oldest child by the time he turned eleven (only Alexandr and his sister Polina survived).

Although his parents were uneducated, Dovzhenko's semi-literate grandfather encouraged him to study, leading him to become a teacher at the age of 19. He escaped military service during both World War I and the Russian Revolution because of a heart condition, but did join the Communist Party in the early 1920s. He even served as an assistant to the Ambassador in Warsaw as well as Berlin. Upon his return to USSR in 1923, he began illustrating books and drawing cartoons in Kiev.

Dovzhenko turned to film in 1926 when he landed in Odessa. His ambitious drive led to the production of his second-ever screenplay, Vasya the Reformer (which he also co-directed). He gained greater success with Zvenigora in 1928 which established him as a major filmmaker of his era. His following "Ukraine Trilogy" (Arsenal, Earth, and Ivan), although underappreciated by some contemporary Soviet critics (who found some of its realism counter-revolutionary), is his most well-known work in the West. For his film Shchors, Dovzhenko was awarded the Stalin Prize (1941); eight years later, in 1949, he was awarded another Stalin Prize for his film Michurin.

Dovzhenko served as a wartime journalist for the Red Army during World War II. After spending several years writing, co-writing and producing films at Mosfilm Studios in Moscow, he turned to writing novels. Over a 20 year career, Dovzhenko personally directed only 7 films.

He was a mentor to the young Soviet filmmakers Larisa Shepitko and Sergei Parajanov. Dovzhenko died of a heart attack on November 25, 1956 in his dacha in Peredelkino. His wife, Yulia Solntseva continued his legacy by producing films of her own and completing projects Dovzhenko was not able to create.

The Dovzhenko Film Studios in Kiev were named after him in his honour following his death.

Dovzhenko's grave in Novodevichy Cemetery

Filmography

*codirected by Yuliya Solntseva

References

External links