Grigori Kozintsev

Grigori Kozintsev
1905-1973
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Soviet theatre and film director who started from the universe of puppet theatre and street performance and created a new direction in the modernist movie art of the twenties (called  eccentrism: I will try to present here some of his silent movies, to make an idea of what it means); in his endeavors Kozintsev worked together with Leonid Trauberg; also other well known artists (among them Sergei Yutkevich, Sergei Gerasimov and Dmitri Shostakovich) joined the effort; all of them would become much respected classics, but then, in the twenties, they were just enthusiastic youngsters in search of new ways; later in life Kozintsev would also become a classic in his own right, leaving us two solid Shakespearean adaptations (Hamlet and King Lear), along with an amazing Don Quixote.

• The New Babylon, 1929

(Filmele Avangardei)

(Russian and Soviet Cinema)