Alexander Dovzhenko
| Alexander Dovzhenko | |
|---|---|
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| Born |
Alexander Petrovich Dovzhenko September 10, 1894 Sosnytsia, Russian Empire (now Ukraine) |
| Died | November 25, 1956 (aged 62) Peredelkino, Soviet Union (now Russia) |
| Occupation | Film director, screenwriter |
| Years active | 1926–1956 |
| Spouse(s) | Yuliya Solntseva |
Alexander Petrovich Dovzhenko or Oleksandr Petrovych Dovzhenko (Ukrainian: Олександр Петрович Довженко, Oleksandr Petrovych Dovzhenko; Russian: Алекса́ндр Петро́вич Довже́нко, Aleksandr Petrovich Dovzhenko; September 10 [O.S. August 29] 1894 – November 25, 1956), was a Soviet screenwriter, film producer and director of Ukrainian origin. He is often cited as one of the most important early Soviet filmmakers, alongside Sergei Eisenstein, Dziga Vertov, and Vsevolod Pudovkin, as well as being a pioneer of Soviet montage theory.
Alexander Dovzhenko was born in the hamlet of Viunyshche located in Chernigov Governorate, Russian Empire (now part of Sosnytsia town in Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine), to Petro Semenovych Dovzhenko and Odarka Yermolayivna Dovzhenko. His paternal ancestors were Ukrainian Cossacks (Chumaks) who settled in Sosnytsia in the eighteenth century, coming from the neighbouring province of Poltava. Alexander was the seventh of fourteen children, but due to the horrific rate of child loss he became the oldest child by the time he turned eleven (only Alexander and his sister Polina survived).
Although his parents were uneducated, Dovzhenko's semi-literate grandfather encouraged him to study, leading him to become a teacher at the age of 19. He escaped military service during World War I because of a heart condition, but during the Soviet-Ukrainian War he served a year in the Red Army. In 1919 in Zhytomyr he was taken prisoner and sent to a concentration camp. In 1920 Dovzhenko joined the Borotbist party. He served as an assistant to the Ambassador in Warsaw as well as Berlin. Upon his return to USSR in 1923, he began illustrating books and drawing cartoons in Kharkiv.
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