Iutkevich, Sergei Iosifovich

(also Yutkevich). Born Dec. 15 (28), 1904, in St. Petersburg. Soviet motion-picture director and theorist. People’s Artist of the USSR (1962); Hero of Socialist Labor (1974); doctor of the arts (1941). Member of the CPSU from 1939.

From 1921 to 1923, Iutkevich studied at the State Higher Directors’ Studios under the supervision of V. E. Meyerhold and at the Vkhutemas (State Higher Arts and Technical Studios). With G. M. Kozintsev and L. Z. Trauberg he organized a group called the Factory of the Eccentric Actor (FEKS), which introduced elements from the circus, variety stage, and agitation revue into motion pictures. In the cinema since 1925, Iutkevich won recognition with Lace (1928), which dealt with Komsomol members at a lace factory and their struggle for a new life. The sound film Golden Mountains (1931) was significant in the development of the poetics of modern cinematography. Counterplan (1932, with F. M. Ermler), a look into the lives of people at a modern plant, was a landmark in the history of Soviet cinema.

From the 1930’s to the 1950’s, Iutkevich directed documentaries and features, including Ankara, the Heart of Turkey (1934), The Miners (1937), lakov Sverdlov (1940), Liberated France (1944), Hello, Moscow (1946), and Przheval’skii (1952). Of his films devoted to the life of V. I. Lenin, Man With a Gun (1938), Stories About Lenin (1958) and Lenin in Poland (1966) were among the best. Iutkevich directed a film version of Mayakov-sky’s The Bathhouse (with A. G. Karanovich, 1962), which integrated actors, puppets, and animated cartoons. His next film (also with Karanovich), Mayakovsky Laughs (1974), explored this technique further. Iutkevich also directed the films Othello (1956) and Subject for a Short Story (1969).

Iutkevich has staged a number of plays in Moscow and Leningrad. At the Moscow Theater of Satire he designed and directed Mayakovsky’s The Bathhouse (1953, with N. V. Petrov and V. N. Pluchek) and The Bedbug (1955, with Pluchek). He teaches at the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography, where he has been a professor since 1940. He was the editor in chief of Cinema Dictionary (vote. 1–2, 1966–1970).

Iutkevich received the State Prize of the USSR in 1941, 1947, and 1967. He has been awarded three orders of Lenin, the Order of the Red Banner of Labor, and several medals.