Soviet film director, screenwriter, organizer of film production. Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1965). From 1911 to 1916 he studied at a real school in Tsarskoye Selo. From 1916 to 1918 - at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Petrograd University. In 1918 - at the Faculty of Law of Kharkov University and at the Kharkov Drama Studio of N. Sinelnikov. In 1918 he performed on the stage of Sinelnikov's Drama Studio in Kharkov (Orgon in Tartuffe). From 1919 to 1920 he was director and head of the Drama Studio of the Political Department of the 14th Army. In June 1920, the Political Department of the 14th Army was admitted to the CPSU (b). From 1920 to 1921 he worked as a director at the Kharkov Drama Theatre. From 1921 to 1929 he served in the Red Army, worked in the courts and prosecutors. He was an investigator for special cases of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Tribunal under the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, Deputy People's Commissar of Justice of the Turkmen SSR. Since 1929, he worked as the head of the script department and head of production, then as a director at the Mezhrabpomfilm film studio. His first directorial work was the film The Death of a Sensation (1934), about humanoid robotic machines. From 1934 to 1937 he studied at the director's academy at VGIK. He worked at the Soyuzdetfilm studio, where he made an experimental stereo film The Third Dimension. In 1941 he staged the first full-length stereo film-concert "Land of Youth". In 1942-1944, he worked as the manager of Soyuzintorgkino of the Committee for Cinematography under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR. In 1944-1949 he was director, artistic director and scientific director of the Stereokino laboratory. In 1949-1950, he was Chairman of the Board and General Director of the Soviet-German joint-stock company DEFA, Chairman of the DEFA Artistic Council, representative of the Sovexportfilm association in Berlin. In 1950-1952, he was the editor-in-chief, head of the script and editorial department of the Mosfilm film studio, concurrently - director of the Film Actor Studio at Mosfilm. In 1952-1954 he worked as the general director of the Wien-Film film studio in Austria. Since 1954 he was a director of the Gorky film studio. From 1968 to 1978 he taught directing at the screenwriting, film studies, acting and art departments of VGIK. Along with Sergei Ivanov, he was the creator of stereo cinema in the USSR, the author of inventions in the field of stereo cinema and sound design. In 1970, he staged the world's first stereo film using the glasses-free method "Amusement Parade".
