Synopsis

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Born in Ukraine in 1917, with the revolution, Khaldei initiated himself into photography by making a camera lens with his grandmother's glasses.

War breaks out and Evgueni becomes a war photographer. He was part of Marshal Zhukov's army, of which he became a friend, and participated in the liberation of Berlin. He photographs the capture of the Reichstag, a symbolic photo.

His fame allows him to approach Stalin, he becomes his official photographer and accompanies him to Potsdam. It will also be present at Nuremberg, and at the Paris agreements. He works for the Tass agency and for Pravda. His photos are in the headlines.

Latent anti-Semitism is resurfacing, there is the affair of Stalin's doctors, the purges. He was kicked out of Tass, then Jews were forbidden to work for Pravda. Khaldei sees his symbolic picture of the Reichstag go around the world, while he lives humbly in a tiny Moscow apartment.

Yevgeny Khaldei, photographer under Stalin is the only existing documentary on the life of the most important Soviet photographer of the twentieth century.

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 Technical sheet

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Scenario and direction: Marc-Henri Wajnberg

Duration: 64 minutes

Year: 1997

A Wajnbrosse production

In co-production with Cult Films, ORF (Austria) and NOS (Netherlands)

With the support of the French Community of Belgium, RTBF, ARTE, MÉDIA and Eurimages

"Poignant face to face with this austere Russian photographer who, by his words alone, makes us live from the inside"  

The Express

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"Great art"  

The evening

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"The director has risen to the height of this invaluable witness ... he films delicately, tenderly"  

Telerama TTT

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"Marc-Henri Wajnberg was a privileged witness"  

The world

FESTIVALS

SFFilm Festival 1998 (San Francisco, United States);

Festival Internacional de Cinema da Figueira da Foz 1998 (Lisbon, Spain);

New York Film Festival 1997 (United States);

Taiwan International Documentary Festival 1998 (Taiwan);

Jewish Film Festival 1998 (Toronto, Canada);

IDFA 1997 (Amsterdam, The Netherlands);

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As well as 10 other festivals including Munich, Leipzig, Jerusalem, Lussas, Palm Beach and Rhode Island​

AWARDS

First price  - Rhode Island International Film Festival 2000

Silver Spire  - Golden Gate Awards of San Francisco 1998

Grand Prize  - Taiwan International Documentary Festival 1998