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Roman Karmen | |
|---|---|
Роман Кармен | |
 Karmen in 1975 | |
| Born | Efraim Leyzorovich Korenman 30 November [O.S. 17 November] 1906 Odesa, Russian Empire (present-day Ukraine) |
| Died | 28 April 1978(1978-04-28) (aged 71) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union |
| Occupations | |
Roman Lazarevich Karmen[a] (30 November [O.S. 17 November] 1906 – 28 April 1978, bornEfraim Leyzorovich Korenman)[b] was a Soviet film director, war cinematographer, documentary filmmaker, journalist, screenwriter, pedagogue, and publicist.[1][2]
Karmen was born to aJewish family in Odessa. His father was the writerLazar Karmen [uk] (real name Leyzor Korenman) and his mother was the translator Dina Leypuner.
Karmen was acommunist.
He documented theSpanish Civil War.[3]: 126 Karmen also documented the battles forMoscow andLeningrad inWorld War II, theFirst Indochina War, and the rise of communism in Southeast Asia in the 1950s and in South America during the 1960s.
Karmen was also granted personal access to the emergence of communist leaders likeVietnam'sHo Chi Minh andCuba'sFidel Castro, andChile's socialist presidentSalvador Allende.
Karmen went toYan'an in 1939, where he metMao Zedong and other Chinese leaders and filmed during May and June 1939.[3]: 126
Karmen's documentary methods were both influential and controversial; his renowned technical ability captured the emotion of war and the repetition of key shots and framings between film projects became a hallmark, but he would often blur the lines ofcinéma vérité by restaging key battles, including the lifting of thesiege of Leningrad (Leningrad in Combat [ru], 1942), the Viet Minh victory at theBattle of Dien Bien Phu (Vietnam [ru], 1955), and the 1956landing in Cuba ofmilitants led byFidel Castro, re-enacted as a first person documentary.
In 2001, French documentary directors Dominique Chapuis and Patrick Barbéris produced a 90-minute film, titledRoman Karmen: A Cineast In The Revolution's Service.[4][5] The following year Barbéris (his co-author Chapuis had died in late 2001) published the portraitRoman Karmen, A Red Legend.[6]
