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Evgueni Khaldei: Photographer Under Stalin

Directed by Marc-Henri Wajnberg

Belgium | 64 minutes | 1997

At the age of one, Evgueni Khaldei was wounded in a pogrom and became an orphan. He went on to become one of the greatest Russian photographers who ever lived, chronicling many of that country's most important events with a splendid gaze and impeccable timing. With a twinkle in his eye, Khaldei tells his incredible life story, marked by some of this century's most important events. Archival footage and Khaldei's famous photographs take us, among other places, to Red Square, the Budapest Ghetto, the fall of the Reichstag, the Nuremberg trials and Yalta. His roller-coaster professional life was marred by a devastating irony. As a Jew, he was considered an official enemy of the state, yet he was entrusted with some of the most important portraits of Stalin. He devoted his life to documenting Soviet Communism, but he lost jobs at both Tass News Agency and Pravda because of anti-Semitism. His art, now acclaimed worldwide, belongs to all humanity.
Director Marc-Henri Wajnberg
Countries of Production Belgium
Year of Presentation 1997
Language(s)
Premiere Status
Runtime 64 minutes
Principal Cast Lew Bezymenskij, Evgueni Khaldei
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