Grigori Kozintsev

Who was Grigori Kozintsev?

Grigori Mikhaylovich Kozintsev was a Jewish Ukrainian, Soviet Russian theatre and film director. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1964. In 1965 he was a member of the jury at the 4th Moscow International Film Festival. Two years later he was a member of the jury of the 5th Moscow International Film Festival. In 1971 he was the President of the Jury at the 7th Moscow International Film Festival.

He studied in the Imperial Academy of Arts. As a theatre director he was part of Eccentricism, a modernist avant garde movement that spanned Russian futurism and constructivism, which included the theatre of Vsevolod Meyerhold and Sergei Eisenstein. Kozintsev contributed the "Salvation in the Trousers" section to the Eccentric Manifesto, published on 9 July 1922 and was involved with the Factory of the Eccentric Actor group. Some of his early films were launched under the FEKS label.

He began making films in 1921. His silent features, including The Overcoat and The New Babylon, had a ring of Expressionism, while the early sound film Alone used experimental montage sound techniques.