Kirsanoff, Dimitri

(Marc David Kaplan / March 6, 1899, Dorpat, Russia-February II, 1957, Paris, France)

   He arrived in France with his family a few months after the Bolshevik Revolution. Having trained at the Ecole Normale de Musique of Paris, he became a vio­linist and played with the Ciné Max Linder orchestra. Seeing movies day after day, he soon fell in love with cinema. The first pictures he directed made him a major figure in avant-garde films. This lasted until the arrival of sound. From the 1930s to his last directed effort in 1957, he shot only documentaries and av­erage motion pictures. Other credit (as uncredited co-screenwriter): 1956 L'Odyssée du Capitaine Steve / Walk Into Paradise / USA: Walk into Hell (Marcello Pagliero, Lee Robinson, France / Australia). His first wife, Nadia Sibirskaïa (Germaine Lebas, 1900-1980) starred in several of his films. His second, Monique Kirsanoff (b. 1913), was a film editor.

 Filmography

1924 ◘ L'Ironie du Destin (also screenwriter, producer, actor)

1926 ◘ Ménilmontant (short; also screenwriter, producer, cinematographer)

1928 ◘ Destin (also screenwriter; shot in 1926)

        ◘ Sables

1929 ◘ Brumes d'Automne / USA: Autumn Mists (short; also screenwriter)

        ◘ Rapt / USA: The Kidnapping

        ◘ Les Berceaux (short)

        ◘ Visages de France (short)

        ◘ Jeune Fille au Jardin (short)

        ◘ La Fontaine d'Aréthuse (short)

        ◘ Franco de Port (also original short story, co-screenwriter, co-dialogist)

        ◘ La plus belle Fille du Monde (also screenwriter, dialogist)

        ◘ L'Avion de Minuit (also co-screenwriter, co-adapter)

        ◘ Quartier sans Soleil (also screenwriter, dialogist; shot in 1939)

        ◘ Deux Amis (short)

1950 ◘ Arrière Saison (short)

        ◘ Lait divers à Paris (also producer)

1951 ◘ Une Chasse à Courre (documentary; short)

1953 ◘ Le Témoin de Minuit

        ◘ Le Crâneur

        ◘ Ce Soir les Jupons volent

        ◘ Miss Catastrophe