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Evgueni Khaldei, photographer under Stalin

Synopsis

Born in Ukraine in 1917, during the revolution, Khaldei initiated himself into photography by making a camera lens from his grandmother's glasses.

War breaks out and Yevgeny becomes a war photographer. He joins Marshal Zhukov's army, with whom he becomes a friend, and takes part in the liberation of Berlin. He takes a symbolic photo of the capture of the Reichstag.

His fame allows him to approach Stalin, he becomes his official photographer and accompanies him to Potsdam. It will also be present at Nuremberg, and at the Paris agreements. He works for the Tass agency and for Pravda. His photos are in the headlines.

Latent anti-Semitism resurfaces, along with the affair of Stalin's doctors and the purges. He is kicked out of Tass, and Jews are forbidden to work for the Pravda newspaper. Khaldei sees his photo, a symbol of the Reichstag, travel around the world, while he lives humbly in a tiny Moscow apartment.

Yevgeny Khaldei, Photographer under Stalin is the only documentary in existence on the life of the most important Soviet photographer of the 20th century.

Technical sheet

Director : Marc-Henri Wajnberg

Screenplay : Marc-Henri Wajnberg

Duration : 64 minutes

Year : 1997

A Wajnbrosse production

In co-production with Cult Films, ORF (Austria) and NOS (Netherlands)

With the support of the French Community of Belgium, RTBF, ARTE, MÉDIA and Eurimages

Khaldei EN.jpg
Evgueni Khaldei - Extrait

Evgueni Khaldei - Extrait

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"Poignant face to face with this austere Russian photographer who, by his words alone, makes us live from the inside"  

The Express

"Great art"  

The Evening

"The director has risen to the height of this invaluable witness ... he films delicately, tenderly"  

Telerama TTT

"Marc-Henri Wajnberg was a privileged witness"  

The World

3 AWARDS

First price  - Rhode Island International Film Festival 2000

Silver Spire  - Golden Gate Awards of San Francisco 1998

Grand Prize  - Taiwan International Documentary Festival 1998

16 FESTIVALS

*SFFilm Festival 1998 (San Francisco, United States);

*Festival Internacional de Cinema da Figueira da Foz 1998 (Lisbon, Spain);

*New York Film Festival 1997 (United States);

*Taiwan International Documentary Festival 1998 (Taiwan);

*Jewish Film Festival 1998 (Toronto, Canada);

*IDFA 1997 (Amsterdam, The Netherlands);

As well as 10 other festivals including Munich, Leipzig, Jerusalem, Lussas, Palm Beach and Rhode Island​

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