Esfir Ilinichna Shub

Born Mar. 4 (16), 1894, in Moscow; died there Sept. 21, 1959. Soviet director of documentary films. Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1935).

Shub began her career in the cinema in 1922. Along with D. Vertov, she was among the first Soviet artists to introduce social commentary into the visual arts. She created the distinctive genre of the historical-documentary montage film. Her films The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty (1927, made from prerevolutionary newsreels), The Great Path (1927), and Nicholas ITs Russia and Leo Tolstoy (1928) were vivid documents of great social impact. Shub later made films using footage from contemporary news-reels, including Moscow Builds a Metro (1934), The Land of the Soviets (1937), Spain (1939), and The Face of the Enemy (1941). From 1943 to 1953 she worked at the Central Documentary Film Studio. She was director of the newsreel News of the Day and held other positions. Shub was the author of the book Close-up (1959).

Shub was awarded the Order of the Badge of Honor and several medals.