Directing

Aleksandr Medvedkin

Born March 8, 1900 · Penza, Russian Empire [now Russia]

Died February 19, 1989 · aged 88

Aleksandr Ivanovich Medvedkin was a Soviet Russian film director, best known for his 1935 film Happiness. His life and art are the subject of Chris Marker's documentary films, The Train Rolls On (1971) and The Last Bolshevik (1992). He travelled around Russia in his Kinopoezd, a film-train, in which he carried film equipment and shot movies in Kolkhozy, which he would then screen there.

Known For

Happiness

Happiness · 1935

MovieComedyDrama

A hapless loser (with the surname of Loser) undergoes misadventures with avaracious clergy, a tired horse, and a walking granary (among other things) on his road to collectivized happiness.

The New Moscow

The New Moscow · 1938

MovieScience FictionComedy

A comedy about a naive young architect and his wild designs for a “New Moscow.” The Soviet censors weren't at all amused and shelved it.

Liberated Earth

Liberated Earth · 1946

Liberated Earth

After the liberation of the Kuban by the Soviet Army troops, farmers return home and begin to restore the destroyed economy. Under the leadership of the young chairman, Nadiezdha Pritulyak, growers are working with great enthusiasm.

An Unquiet Spring

An Unquiet Spring · 1956

An Unquiet Spring

MovieDramaComedy

A comedy about Krushchev's 'Virgin Lands' project, to transform the barren and inhospitable spaces of the vast Soviet Union into fertile agricultural plains. A classically Socialist-Realist narrative of an individual's 're-education'. Zhenia, a hapless idler, arrives with a band of enthusiastic young Konsomol members to build a new town in the steppe. Although his dream, like that of all the young participants, is 'to become a tractor driver and a hero', he isn't prepared to work for the honour.

The Miracle Worker

The Miracle Worker · 1936

The Miracle Worker

MovieDramaComedy

A competition between milkmaids turns into magic duel as one of them hires a witch to perform a milking ritual, while a young girl discovers a talent to communicate with cows. Only her dreams are miles away, as she's in love.

We Await Your Victorious Return

We Await Your Victorious Return · 1941

We Await Your Victorious Return

The first of what became a popular genre of wartime 'film-concerts', consisting of eight musical numbers, strung together by a loose plot. It shows soldiers leaving their village for the front; in their absence, the desolate but resolute young women of the village assume responsibility for the business of the farm

Duren, You're a Fool!

Duren, You're a Fool! · 1931

Duren, You're a Fool!

A film satire that exposes incompetence and bureaucracy. The plot revolves around the adventures of Ivan Ivanovich Duren, the head of a large construction project. The film is lost.

Anxiety. Thoughts of an Old Man

Anxiety. Thoughts of an Old Man · 1984

Anxiety. Thoughts of an Old Man

MovieDocumentaryTV Movie

The director's reflections on the modern politics of the Reagan administration.

Filmography

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Happiness

Happiness · 1935

MovieComedyDrama

A hapless loser (with the surname of Loser) undergoes misadventures with avaracious clergy, a tired horse, and a walking granary (among other things) on his road to collectivized happiness.

Director

The New Moscow

The New Moscow · 1938

MovieScience FictionComedy

A comedy about a naive young architect and his wild designs for a “New Moscow.” The Soviet censors weren't at all amused and shelved it.

Director

Liberated Earth

Liberated Earth · 1946

Liberated Earth

After the liberation of the Kuban by the Soviet Army troops, farmers return home and begin to restore the destroyed economy. Under the leadership of the young chairman, Nadiezdha Pritulyak, growers are working with great enthusiasm.

Director

An Unquiet Spring

An Unquiet Spring · 1956

An Unquiet Spring

MovieDramaComedy

A comedy about Krushchev's 'Virgin Lands' project, to transform the barren and inhospitable spaces of the vast Soviet Union into fertile agricultural plains. A classically Socialist-Realist narrative of an individual's 're-education'. Zhenia, a hapless idler, arrives with a band of enthusiastic young Konsomol members to build a new town in the steppe. Although his dream, like that of all the young participants, is 'to become a tractor driver and a hero', he isn't prepared to work for the honour.

Director

The Miracle Worker

The Miracle Worker · 1936

The Miracle Worker

MovieDramaComedy

A competition between milkmaids turns into magic duel as one of them hires a witch to perform a milking ritual, while a young girl discovers a talent to communicate with cows. Only her dreams are miles away, as she's in love.

Director

We Await Your Victorious Return

We Await Your Victorious Return · 1941

We Await Your Victorious Return

The first of what became a popular genre of wartime 'film-concerts', consisting of eight musical numbers, strung together by a loose plot. It shows soldiers leaving their village for the front; in their absence, the desolate but resolute young women of the village assume responsibility for the business of the farm

Director

Duren, You're a Fool!

Duren, You're a Fool! · 1931

Duren, You're a Fool!

A film satire that exposes incompetence and bureaucracy. The plot revolves around the adventures of Ivan Ivanovich Duren, the head of a large construction project. The film is lost.

Director

Anxiety. Thoughts of an Old Man

Anxiety. Thoughts of an Old Man · 1984

Anxiety. Thoughts of an Old Man

MovieDocumentaryTV Movie

The director's reflections on the modern politics of the Reagan administration.

Director

Night over China

Night over China · 1971

Night over China

MovieDocumentary

An extraordinary document from one of the Cold War's bitterest conflicts - between the Soviet Union and Communist China - this film spares no quarter in its indictment of Maoist evils and misrule.

Writer

Kinopoezd - Cinetrain

Kinopoezd - Cinetrain · 1932

Kinopoezd - Cinetrain

The eleven films that survived from the series of films shot, edited, and shown from three custom railway cars travelling throughout the Soviet Union from 1932 to 1935. A project by Alexandr Medvedkin, though he isn't mentioned in the titles. The cars were full of film prints, editing tables, actors. Films were made in one day: edited at night and the next day shown to the people who participated in it.

Director

Conveyor

Conveyor · 1932

Producer

Fruits and Vegetables

Fruits and Vegetables · 1931

Fruits and Vegetables

Agitfilm. The film is lost.

Director

Caution! Maoism!

Caution! Maoism! · 1976

Caution! Maoism!

MovieDocumentary

A full-length documentary film directed by Alexander Medvedkin tells about the nature of Maoism, the events in China in the 1960s and early 1970s

Director

Ambulance

Ambulance · 1949

Satire directed at the American humanitarian initiative launched in Europe in 1948 and mostly known as the Marshall Plan. Soviet Union famously rejected the offer despite suffering from 1946-1947 major famine.

Screenplay