Director
Dziga Vertov
Born 3 January 1896 · Bialystok, Grodno Province, Russian Empire — died 11 February 1954
Dziga Vertov, born David Kaufman in Białystok, was a Soviet documentarian and film theorist. He pioneered the Kino-Pravda newsreels and the "Kino-Eye" idea of using the camera to capture unstaged life. His work shaped later cinéma vérité, and Man with a Movie Camera is regularly ranked among the greatest films.
Key films
Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
His landmark experimental city documentary, famed for its inventive editing and self-aware look at filmmaking.
Kino-Pravda No. 1 (1922)
The first issue of his newsreel series, which gave cinéma vérité its name and approach.
Kino-Eye (1924)
A feature-length work putting his theory of the camera as a more perceptive 'eye' into practice.
Enthusiasm: Symphony of Donbas (1930)
His first sound film, using recorded industrial and city sounds experimentally to portray Soviet mining work.
Three Songs About Lenin (1934)
A later, celebrated Lenin tribute that shows his style adapting to Soviet sound-era filmmaking.
Key awards
No major awards are documented here.
On Cinespective
Full filmography · 72
- 1918Anniversary of the RevolutionDirector
- 1918Kino-weekDirector
- 1918Kino-Week No. 25Director
- 1918Kino-Week No. 28Director
- 1918Kino-Week No. 29Director
- 1918Kino-Week No. 1Director
- 1918Kino-Week No. 3Director
- 1918Kino-Week No. 4Director
- 1918Kino-Week No. 5Director
- 1918Kino-Week No. 17Director
- 1918Kino-Week No. 21Director
- 1918Kino-Week No. 22Director
- 1918Kino-Week No. 23Director
- 1918Kino-Week No. 24Director
- 1919The Brain of Soviet RussiaDirector
- 1919The Exposure of the Relics of Sergius of RadonezhDirector
- 1919Literary-Instructional agit-steamboat VTsIK 'Red Star'Director
- 1919Protsess MironovaDirector
- 1919Kino-Week No. 31Director
- 1919Kino-Week No. 32 (Fragment #1)Director
- 1919Kino-Week No. 32 (Fragment #2)Director
- 1919Kino-Week No. 33Director
- 1919Kino-Week No. 34Director
- 1919Kino-Week No. 35Director
- 1921The History of the Civil WarDirector
- 1922Kino-Pravda No. 1Director
- 1922Kino-Pravda No. 3Director
- 1922Kino-Pravda No. 4Director
- 1922Kino-Pravda No. 5Director
- 1922Kino-Pravda No. 6Director
- 1922Kino-Pravda No. 13: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow. A Film Poem Dedicated to the October RevolutionDirector
- 1922Kino-Pravda No. 2Director
- 1922Kino-Pravda No. 7Director
- 1922Kino-Pravda No. 11Director
- 1922Kino-Pravda No. 8Actor
- 1922Kino-Pravda No. 8Director
- 1922Kino-Pravda No. 9Director
- 1922Kino-Pravda No. 10Director
- 1922Kino-Pravda No. 12Director
- 1923Kino-Pravda No. 17Director
- 1923Kino-Pravda No. 15Director
- 1923Kino-Pravda No. 16: Spring Pravda. A Lyrical View NewsreelDirector
- 1923Kino-Pravda No. 14Director
- 1923First May in MoscowDirector
- 1923GoskinokalendarDirector
- 1923Give Us Air!Director
- 1924Kino-EyeDirector
- 1924Soviet ToysDirector
- 1924Kino-Pravda No. 19: A Movie-Camera Race Moscow – Arctic OceanDirector
- 1924Kino-Pravda No. 18: A Movie-Camera Race Over 299 Metres and 14 Minutes and 50 Seconds in the Direction of Soviet RealityDirector
- 1924Kino-Pravda No. 20: Pioneer PravdaDirector
- 1924Our Response to the Gloatings of the Capitalist WorldDirector
- 1924Lenin's Kino Pravda: Truth in CinemaDirector
- 1925Kino-Pravda No. 21: Lenin Kino-Pravda. A Film Poem About LeninDirector
- 1925Kino-Pravda No. 22: Lenin Is Alive in the Heart of the Peasant. A Film StoryDirector
- 1925Kino-Pravda No. 23: Radio PravdaDirector
- 1926A Sixth Part of the WorldDirector
- 1926Stride, Soviet!Director
- 1928The Eleventh YearDirector
- 1929Man with a Movie CameraDirector
- 1930Enthusiasm: Symphony of DonbasDirector
- 1930Sound team program No 2Director
- 1934Three Songs About LeninDirector
- 1937LullabyDirector
- 1937In Memory of Sergo OrdzhonikidzeDirector
- 1938Three HeroinesDirector
- 1941In the Area of Height ADirector
- 1942For You at the Front!Director
- 1963The Magic Beam · as Self (archive footage)Actor
- 1966World Without a Game · as Self (archive footage)Actor
- 2002All Vertovs · as (archive footage)Actor
- 2024The Return of Vertov · as Self (archive footage)Actor
Filmography data from TMDB. The profile text is a draft written for Cinespective.