Dziga Vertov
David Abelevich Kaufman entered the world in Białystok, Poland, during 1896. His family belonged to a Jewish community within the Russian Empire. He studied music at the local conservatory before fleeing with his parents to Moscow in 1915. The German Army had invaded their home region and forced them to leave. They settled first in Petrograd where he began writing poetry and science fiction. By 1916 he was studying medicine at the Psychoneurological Institute while experimenting with sound collages. After the October Revolution of 1917, he adopted the name Dziga Vertov. This pseudonym translates loosely from Ukrainian as spinning top. He Russified his original name and patronymic to Denis Arkadyevich Vertov sometime after 1918.
A group known as the Kinoks formed around 1922 to challenge existing cinema norms. The trio included Dziga Vertov, his future wife Elizaveta Svilova, and his brother Mikhail Kaufman. They issued manifestoes in LEF, a radical Russian newsmagazine. Their statement We: Variant of a Manifesto appeared in the first issue of Kino-Fot published by Aleksei Gan. They declared themselves kinoks rather than cinematographers. They viewed other filmmakers as junkmen peddling rags. The group rejected psychological Russo-German film drama as an absurdity. They saw no connection between true kinochestvo and profiteers. Their goal involved creating a fresh perception of the world through mechanical means. They believed machines offered unerring ways more exciting than human disorder. The collective aimed to bring creative joy to all mechanical labour.
Vertov launched the Kino-Pravda series in 1922 while working from a damp basement in central Moscow. The space had an earthen floor with holes that workers stumbled into daily. Rusting scissors and splicers plagued their editing process due to the moisture. The series took its name from the official government newspaper Pravda. It contained twenty-three issues produced over three years. Each episode lasted about twenty minutes and covered three topics. The stories were descriptive vignettes showing marketplaces, bars, schools, or trolley renovations. One story depicted starvation within the nascent Communist state. Another showed tanks helping prepare foundations for an airport construction project. Some scenes like the trial of Social Revolutionaries included staged elements. Most episodes avoided reenactments entirely. Critics dismissed the work as insane by the fourteenth episode. Vertov responded by calling critics hacks nipping revolutionary effort in the bud.
The Ukraine State Studio hired Vertov to create Man with a Movie Camera in 1929. He filmed scenes across Ukraine using his brother Mikhail Kaufman as cinematographer. The film contains shots where two trains appear to melt into each other. This visual effect portrayed actual sight rather than conventional separation between passing trains. Other sequences show a woman getting out of bed and dressing in a clearly staged manner. A reversed shot depicts chess pieces being pushed off a board. Mikhail Kaufman rode in one car while filming a third car moving alongside them. These obvious stagings contradicted his creed of life caught unawares yet conformed to his definition of surprise. Slow motion and fast motion techniques dissected images to reveal honest truth. The film aimed to make Soviet citizens more efficient through psychological dissection of their actions. It sought peace between human movement and machine operation.
Dziga Vertov formulated Cine-Eye theory within his 1919 manifesto We: Variant of a Manifesto. He believed this concept would help humanity evolve from flawed creatures into higher forms. He compared man unfavorably to machines regarding self-control capabilities. Electricity offered unerring ways that active people could not match. His 1923 credo stated I am the mechanical eye showing you the world as only I can see it. He claimed emancipation from human immobility through constant motion. The path led toward creation of fresh perception unknown to ordinary eyes. Vertov surrounded himself with Kinoks who shared these beliefs about cinema evolution. He viewed existing films as too romantic and theatricalized due to literature or music influences. Such psychological dramas hampered desire for kinship with machinery. The goal involved bringing men closer to machines through rhythm rather than narrative. This approach sought to create an image-oriented journalism distinct from traditional chronicle art.
Vertov produced Enthusiasm: Symphony of the Donbass in 1931 examining Soviet miners. Sound recorded on location created symphony-like effects woven together mechanically. Many Soviet critics rejected the film while foreign audiences lauded its sonic experimentation. Three years later he released Three Songs About Lenin finished in January 1934. It appeared publicly only in November after private screenings for officials including H.G. Wells. A new version emerged in 1938 reflecting Stalin's achievements by removing footage of enemies. Socialist realism gained official sanction in 1934 forcing significant cuts to his personal output. He eventually became little more than an editor for Soviet newsreels. Lullaby released in 1937 remained perhaps his last film maintaining artistic vision. Dziga Vertov died of cancer in Moscow during February 1954.
International rediscovery of Vertov began gaining momentum during the 1960s and 1970s. Jean Rouch used his filming theory when making Chronicle of a Summer in 1960. Partner Edgar Morin coined the term cinéma vérité using direct translation of KinoPravda. The Dziga Vertov Group operated as a radical filmmaking cooperative from 1968 to 1972. Free Cinema movement in Britain and Direct Cinema in North America owed debts to his work. In 1962 the first Soviet monograph on Vertov was published followed by another collection. Three New York cultural organizations held the first American retrospective in 1984 marking thirty years since his death. Russian historian Nikolai Izvolov found lost portions of Anniversary of the Revolution in 2018. He reconstructed History of the Civil War using archive materials in 2022. His ideas continue echoing through database cinema genres and modern documentary practices today.
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Common questions
Who was Dziga Vertov and what was his original name?
Dziga Vertov was a Soviet-Jewish filmmaker born David Abelevich Kaufman in Białystok, Poland during 1896. He Russified his name to Denis Arkadyevich Vertov sometime after 1918.
When did Dziga Vertov adopt the pseudonym Dziga Vertov?
Dziga Vertov adopted the name Dziga Vertov after the October Revolution of 1917. This pseudonym translates loosely from Ukrainian as spinning top.
What is Kino-Pravda by Dziga Vertov and when was it launched?
Vertov launched the Kino-Pravda series in 1922 while working from a damp basement in central Moscow. The series contained twenty-three issues produced over three years with each episode lasting about twenty minutes.
How did Dziga Vertov create Man with a Movie Camera in 1929?
The Ukraine State Studio hired Dziga Vertov to create Man with a Movie Camera in 1929 using his brother Mikhail Kaufman as cinematographer. The film contains shots where two trains appear to melt into each other and uses slow motion and fast motion techniques to dissect images.
Why did Dziga Vertov formulate Cine-Eye theory within his 1919 manifesto We: Variant of a Manifesto?
Dziga Vertov formulated Cine-Eye theory within his 1919 manifesto We: Variant of a Manifesto because he believed this concept would help humanity evolve from flawed creatures into higher forms. He compared man unfavorably to machines regarding self-control capabilities and claimed electricity offered unerring ways that active people could not match.
When did Dziga Vertov die and what happened to his work after his death?
Dziga Vertov died of cancer in Moscow during February 1954. International rediscovery of Vertov began gaining momentum during the 1960s and 1970s while Russian historian Nikolai Izvolov found lost portions of Anniversary of the Revolution in 2018.