Boris Vasilyevich Shpis (; 1903–1939) was a Soviet

film director A film director or filmmaker is a person who controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfillment of that Goal, vision. The director has a key role ...

and

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

Biography

Boris Shpis was a

stage design Scenic design, also known as stage design or set design, is the creation of scenery for theatrical productions including Play (theatre), plays and Musical theatre, musicals. The term can also be applied to film and television productions, wher ...

er who joined

Grigori Kozintsev Grigori Mikhailovich Kozintsev (11 May 1973, born Grigori Moiseyevich Kozintsov) was a Soviet theatre and film director, screenwriter and pedagogue. He was named People's Artist of the USSR in 1964. In 1965 he was a member of the jury at the ...

and

Leonid Trauberg Leonid Zakharovich Trauberg (, 17 January 1902 – 14 November 1990) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter. He directed 17 films between 1924 and 1961 and was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1941. Trauberg was Jewish, and was fiercely attack ...

's (FEKS) in 1924 and worked as

assistant director The role of an assistant director (AD) on a film includes tracking daily progress against the filming production schedule, arranging logistics, preparing daily call sheets, checking cast and crew, and maintaining order on the set. They also have ...

in all their films up to and including '' The Club of the Big Deed''. When in 1927 Kozintsev and Trauberg decided not to continue work on the comedy ''

Somebody Else's Coat ''Somebody Else's Coat'' () is a 1927 cinema of the Soviet Union, Soviet comedy film directed by Boris Shpis, based on Veniamin Kaverin's short story "Government Inspector". Cast * Andrei Kostrichkin - Chuchugin * Sergei Gerasimov (film directo ...

,'' Shpis persuaded them to let him finish the film. The film, however, has not been released and is considered to be lost. In 1928 Boris Shpis started to work as director, first at Soyuzkino studios (now

Lenfilm Lenfilm (, acronym of Leningrad Films) is a Russian production and distribution company with its own film studio located in Saint Petersburg (the city was called Leningrad from 1924 to 1991, thus the name). It is a corporation with its stakes s ...

) and later, together with Rashel Milman, at Belgoskino Studio (now

Belarusfilm Belarusfilm () is the main film studio of Belarus. History Soviet times Belarusfilm, under the name ''Belgoskino'' was founded in 1924. The first film shot at the studio was "The Forest Past" by Yuri Tarich. In 1928, the ''Soviet Belarus'' ...

). In 1937 Shpis and Milman returned to Lenfilm to reorganize and lead all

film editing Film editing is both a creative and a technical part of the post-production process of filmmaking. The term is derived from the traditional process of working with film stock, film which increasingly involves the use Digital cinema, of digital ...

done at the Studio. But soon, in the

Great Purge The Great Purge, or the Great Terror (), also known as the Year of '37 () and the Yezhovshchina ( , ), was a political purge in the Soviet Union that took place from 1936 to 1938. After the Assassination of Sergei Kirov, assassination of ...

, Boris Shpis was arrested and shot.

Filmography

;Director * ''

'' (1927) * ''Blue Collars'' (1928) * ''Snow Boys'' (1928) * ''Road into the World'' (1929) * ''Avenger'' (1930) * '' The Return of Nathan Becker'' (1932); co-directed with Rashel Milman * '' Engineer Goff'' (1935); co-directed with Rashel Milman ;Screenwriter * ''Road into the World'' (1929) * ''Avenger'' (1930) *
The Return of Nathan Becker
' (1932) ;Actor * ''

The Overcoat "The Overcoat" (, translit. Shinyél’; sometimes translated as "The Cloak" or "The Mantle") is a short story by Nikolai Gogol, published in 1842. The story has had a great influence on Russian literature. Eugène-Melchior de Vogüé, ...

'' (1926)

References

External links

*
Factory of Eccentricity St. Petersburg Encyclopedia

Factory of the Eccentric Actor
Soviet film directors Soviet screenwriters Soviet male screenwriters 1903 births 1939 deaths Belarusfilm films {{USSR-film-director-stub