Bolshintsov, Manuel Vladimirovich

Born Dec. 2(15), 1902; died July 23,1954. Soviet screenwriter and director.

Bol’shintsov was one of the organizers of the Kinokomsomol Motion Picture Studio in Rostov-on-Don. Here, as well as at the Yalta and other motion picture studios, he directed a number of films. From 1931, Bol’shintsov worked as a screenwriter. His first important work was the film The Peasants (1935, written jointly with F. M. Ermler and V. Portnov). In 1938–39, A Great Citizen, one of the outstanding Soviet films, was produced with a scenario by Bol’shintsov; it was written jointly with M. Iu. Bleiman and the director Ermler. During the Great Patriotic War, Bol’shintsov served as chief editor of the Central Studio for Documentary Films. He wrote scenarios and texts for the documentary films From the Vistula to the Oder (1945), Donbas (1946), Dnieper Hydroelectric Power Plant (1948), and others, as well as the artistic films Moscow Sky (1944, written jointly with Bleiman) and They Came Down From the Mountains (1955, written jointly with A. I. Beliashvili). Bol’shintsov won the State Prize of the USSR in 1941. He was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and medals.