Born On This Day- January 23rd... Pioneering Filmmaker Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein

Film History class, I loved it. A big “If I could do it over again” in my life would have to be challenging myself as to why & chose Theatre over Film for my undergraduate degree. I received better marks for my work in film classes than in my own major.

Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein was a revolutionary Soviet film director & film theorist, now mostly known for his silent films: Strike, Battleship Potemkin & Oktober. His work vastly influenced early American film makers with his innovative use montage. Eisenstein felt the collision of shots could be used to manipulate the emotions of the audience & create film metaphors. His theories continue to be taught in film schools to this day.

Eisenstein's vision of Communism brought him into conflict with officials in the ruling regime of Joseph Stalin. Bolshevik artists like Eisenstein dreamed the new society would subsidize artists, breaking them free of bosses & budgets, leaving them room to create.

Eisenstein's popularity & influence in Russia changed with the success of his films & the passage of time. The critics of the outside world praised them, but at home, Eisenstein's focus in these films on structural issues such as camera angles, crowd movements & montage, brought him under fire within the Soviet film community forcing him to issue public articles of self-criticism & commitments to change his cinema to conform to socialist ideals.The constraints of Stalinism, led Eisenstein to accepted offers to work in the United States & Mexico.

He married twice in response to political pressure, but his marriages were never consummated. His memoir- Immortal Memories, recounts his infatuations with many young men, including his assistant, Grigori Alexandrov. His infatuations were almost always with young heterosexual men. His drawings include many details of homosexual activity.

Much of his work was destroyed or confiscated, but he remains one of the most important filmmakers in history. Eisenstein suffered a hemorrhage & died at the age of 50. A legend in film history tells of Russian scientists preserved his brain. It was said to bee much larger than a normal human brain, which the Russian scientists took as a sign of genius.