DzigaVertov (David/Denis Kaufman)
1896-1954
Aesthetic program
The Kinoks group (kino “cinema” +
oko“eye” and okno“window”)
 Programmatic "Manifesto"
 “Kino-glaz” (“cine-eye”). Documentary
truth. Films as “wall-newspapers”
 "It is far from simple to show the truth,
yet the truth is simple." (DzigaVertov)
 Using one's eyes (lens as an eye)
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Cine-Eye
"Our eyes see very little and very badly –
so people dreamed up the microscope to
let them see invisible phenomena; they
invented the telescope...now they have
perfected the cinecamera to penetrate
more deeply into the visible world, to
explore and record visual phenomena so
that what is happening now, which will
have to be taken account of in the future,
is not forgotten." (Dziga Vertov)
Realized metaphor
Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
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Begins with a
statement of values
Against theatre,
acting, scenarios
No narrative
No individual hero
People merging with
machines
Constructivist aesthetic
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Glorification of technology, delight in watching
machines
Camera, machines, trains, trams
A “choreography” of machines
Machines as “perfect hands” – humans become
machine-like
The camera “orders” the events to happen
"I am the machine that reveals the world to you
as only I alone am able to see it." (Dziga
Vertov)
Constructivist aesthetic
Man with a Movie Camera (1929)
No intertitles (but
many bits of text tell
the story)
 Continuation of "KinoPravda" ("film truth")
– a film series started
by Vertov in 1922, the
title played on the
state newspaper title
Pravda (“Truth”)
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Genre and devices
Documentary in the genre of "Life of a
City"
 Actually, several cities shown ( Moscow,
Odessa, Kharkov)
 Uses the conventions of film-making to
“unmask” them (the Kuleshov effect with
the dummies)
 Rapid cross-cutting – “wake-up therapy”
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Ideological message
Down with NEP (New Economic Policy)
 Down with bourgeois values, including
feature films
 Manual labour versus service; down with
service
 Lev Trotsky’s quote illustrated (vodka,
church and cinema as “drugs” used by
world capitalism against the working class)
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Artistic message
Film about film-making (selfreflexive)
 Begins with a shot of the
movie theatre and a reel of
completed film
 Heroes are: the film editor
(played by DV’s wife
ElizavetaSvilova), cameraman
(played by Mikhail Kaufman,
DV's brother), and the
camera.
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