Heifits I.E. (1905-1995), film director

Categories / Art/Cinema
HEIFITS Iosif Efimovich (1905-1995, St. Petersburg), film director, script writer, teacher, People’s Artist of the USSR (1964), Hero of Socialist Labour (1975). Studied at the Leningrad Institute of Art History but failed to graduate and started working at Sovkino Film Studio (later Lenfilm) in 1928. He joined with A. G. Zarkhi to found the First Komsomol Team of Directors in 1929 and continued working with him until 1950. His early films, including Wind in the Face (1930), Noon (1931), and Hectic Days (1935), were devoted to youth-related issues. He and Zarkhi became world-known for their Baltic Deputy, shot in 1937 and awarded the Grand Prix at the International Festival in Paris and a medal at the International Film Festival in Venice; and Member of the Government, shot in 1939. Heifits’s films of the 1950s, including Large Family (1954) and Rumyantsev Case (1956), marked new trends in Soviet cinema. He distinguished himself by his screen versions of Russian classics such as Lady with the Dog (1960), awarded a prize at the International Film Festival in Cannes, and Bad Good Man (1973) based on A. P. Chekhov’s Duel. St. Petersburg is prominent in his Baltic Deputy and Day of Happiness (1963). He won several prizes at national and international film festivals, and was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1941 and 1946. He also wrote a number of books. He lived at 84-86 Maly Avenue, Petrogradskaya Side (memorial plaque installed), and was buried at Komarovskoe Cemetery.

Reference: Петрович А. Я. Иосиф Хейфиц. М., 1965; Сэпман И. В. Иосиф Хейфиц // Ленинградский экран: Ст. Творч. портреты. Интервью. Публикации. Л., 1979. С. 125-144.

I. V. Sepman. Chekhov Anton Pavlovich
Heifits Iosif Efimovich
Zarkhi Alexander Grigoryevich
Maly Ave of Petrogradskaya Storona/Saint Petersburg, city, house 84
Maly Ave of Petrogradskaya Storona/Saint Petersburg, city, house 86
Петрович А. Я. Иосиф Хейфиц. М., 1965
Сэпман И. В. Иосиф Хейфиц // Ленинградский экран: Ст. Творч. портр. Интервью. Публикации. Л., 1979 Institute of Art History
Lenfilm, Film Studio
Komorovskoe Cemetery