Abram Matveyevich Room (russian: Абрам Матвеевич Роом; 28 June 1894 in Wilno,

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(now

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) – 26 July 1976 in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

) was a Russian

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, pr ...

. He was a People's Artist of the RSFSR and winner of the Stalin Prize.

Biography

In 1914-1917 he studied at the St. Petersburg Bekhterev Psychoneurological Research Institute, between 1917 and 1922 at the medical faculty of

Saratov State University Saratov Chernyshevsky State University (russian: Саратовский государственный университет имени Н. Г. Чернышевского, СГУ, transcribed as SGU) is a major higher education and research ins ...

. From 1917 he worked in Saratov in the arts department as professor and rector of the Higher theatrical art workshops. Since 1923 he was the director of Vsevolod Meyerhold’s Theatre of the Revolution in Moscow, director and teacher of the Higher Pedagogical School of the

All-Russian Central Executive Committee The All-Russian Central Executive Committee ( rus, Всероссийский Центральный Исполнительный Комитет, Vserossiysky Centralny Ispolnitelny Komitet, VTsIK) was the highest legislative, administrative and r ...

in the Kremlin. Since 1924 he was the director at the studios Goskino, Sovkino, Soyuzkino. Since 1936 he was director at the studio

Mosfilm Mosfilm (russian: Мосфильм, ''Mosfil’m'' ) is a film studio which is among the largest and oldest in the Russian Federation and in Europe. Founded in 1924 in the USSR as a production unit of that nation's film monopoly, its output inclu ...

. In 1925-1934 he taught at

VGIK The Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (russian: Всероссийский государственный институт кинематографии имени С. А. Герасимова, meaning ''All-Russian State Institute of Cinemat ...

as a senior lecturer. Room's best known film is '' Bed and Sofa'' (1927) after a screenplay by Lev Kuleshov and Viktor Shklovsky. In the film, a woman who is married to a construction worker has an affair with their lodger. The film tracks the evolution of a housewife into a strong liberated woman, which was very unusual for its time. Another notable title is ''

The Ghost That Never Returns ''The Ghost That Never Returns'' (russian: Привидение, которое не возвращается, Prividenie, kotoroe ne vozvrashchaetsya) is a 1930 Soviet made part-sound drama film. It was directed by Abram Room based on a novel by ...

'' (1929) The first movie he directed was The Vodka Chase in 1924. He directed the first talking picture in the Soviet Union, the 1930 documentary '' The Plan for Great Works''. The other films he directed were ''Traitor'' (1926), ''Ruts'' (1928), ''Criminals'' (1933), ''Squadron No. 5'' (1939), ''Invasion'' (1945), ''V gorakh Jugoslavii'' (1946), ''School for Scandal'' (1952), ''The Garnet Bracelet'' (1965), '' Late Flowers'' (1969), and ''The Untimely Man'' (1973). Cited in the German book ''Texte zur Theorie des Films'' (Albersmeier 1998, p.304) exts about theory of film "A. Room, declared opponent of the concept of

Sergey Eisenstein Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (russian: Сергей Михайлович Эйзенштейн, p=sʲɪrˈɡʲej mʲɪˈxajləvʲɪtɕ ɪjzʲɪnˈʂtʲejn, 2=Sergey Mikhaylovich Eyzenshteyn; 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director, screenw ...

, postulated in his essay Moi kinoubezhdeniya (My beliefs of film) in: Soviet screen, 1926, m. 8, p. 5: Prior importance in film must be the living human... n german: Vorrangige Bedeutung kommt im Film dem lebendigen Menschen zu... exactly that what Eisenstein declined."

Selected filmography

* The Bay of Death (1926) * Bed and Sofa (1927) * Jews on Land (1927) * Potholes (1928) *

(1930) * The Plan for Great Works (1930) * A Severe Young Man (1936) *

Silvery Dust ''Silvery Dust'' (russian: Серебристая пыль, Serebristaya pyl) is a 1953 Soviet science fiction drama film directed by Pavel Armand and Abram Room and starring Mikhail Bolduman, Sofiya Pilyavskaya and Valentina Ushakova.Liehm & L ...

(1953) * The Garnet Bracelet (1964) * Late Flowers (1970) * A Man Before His Time (1971)

References

External links

* * Soviet film directors 1894 births 1976 deaths Soviet theatre directors Soviet male actors Stalin Prize winners People's Artists of the RSFSR Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Russian Jews {{USSR-film-director-stub