Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2001/02/25
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The film "Evgueni Khaldai, Photographer Under Stalin" will be shown on Wednesday, March 14, 2001, 9:30 PM at the downtown Cinerama. It's being shown as part of the Seattle Jewish Film Festival. The 1998 Belgian film was directed by Marc-Henri Wajnberg. It's 60 minutes long, in Russian, with English subtitles. It includes interviews with Khaldei conducted in his home. And I'm sure, lots of Khaldei's photos. Khaldei was in many ways a Soviet Alfred Eisenstadt. He photographed many of the significant persons and events in the USSR. He also had political troubles: After being widely recognized as one of the greatest Soviet photographers, he was fired from Tass during Stalin's 1948 anti-Semitic purges. After Stalin's death in 1953, he was hired by Pravda, only to be fired again in 1972, again because he was Jewish. The film sounds like a fascinating piece, and it will be interesting to see how this world-class photographer dealt with the restrictions of both Communism and Russian anti-Semitism. I plan to be there. If anyone on the LUG, LEG or Olympus list will attend, let me know and we can say hello in person! Feel free to re-post this to other photography lists you belong to. It's possible that it will be shown at other Jewish film festivals or at art/inependent/foreign oriented film outlets. I don't know if it's available on video. - --Peter Klein Seattle, WA