Levitan, Arkady Yulianovich

Born in 1911

He began his career in 1929 as an assistant operator in the Southwestern branch of Sovkino in Orel , where he mastered the art of a cameraman for two years.

In 1931 he became an assistant operator at the Mosfilm film studio. Here in 1933 he independently shot his first documentary film "On the shores of the Chukchi Sea."

Working from 1936 to 1941 as an operator of the Central Documentary Film Studio, he shot newsreels for newsreels and special issues. Here he took part in the filming of his first major film, “The Day of the New World,” published in 1940.

During the war years, from 1941 to 1945, he was the operator of front-line film groups on the South , North Caucasus, 1st Belorussian fronts and the Black Sea group of forces. He shot together with other front-line cameramen many films and special issues, from The Liberation of Rostov ( 1941 ) to the film Berlin ( 1945 ).

In 1944, as an operator, he was a member of the Special Commission for the Establishment and Investigation of the Circumstances of the Shooting of Polish Prisoners of War by German Fascist Invaders in the Katyn Forest (near Smolensk).

Often shot with a hidden camera, managing to “spy” and capture people in expressive shots. So, for example, it was with the film "Katyusha" directed by Viktor Lisakovich, which tells about the legendary scout, Hero of the Soviet Union Ekaterina Mikhailova (Demina) . This film won the first prize at the All-Union Film Festival in Kiev , and then the Gold Medal at the International Film Festival in Leipzig .

In the postwar years he acted as a cameraman, director and author of documentaries. Among the most famous films he shot was the 1970 short film “Take Us With You, Tourists” —a travel film around the most beautiful places of the Soviet Union.

He died in 2006 in Moscow at the age of 94.

• Honored Artist of the RSFSR
• ICF Gold Medal in Leipzig (for the film Katyusha, 1964)
• Order of the Patriotic War II degree (6.4.1985)
• medals
• Bulgarian Government Award

As a cameraman A. Levitan took part in the filming of many documentaries, including:

• “On the shores of the Chukchi Sea” (1933)
• “New World Day” (1940)
• The Liberation of Rostov (1941)
• “We Will Not Forget, We Will Not Forgive” (1941) (about the atrocities of the Nazis in Rostov-on-Don)
• "Our Novorossiysk" (1943)
• "Landing in Kerch" (1943)
• “The verdict of the people” (1943)
• The Caucasus (1943)
• "Tragedy in the Katyn Forest" (1944)
• The Smolensk Process (1945)
• The Warrior City (1945)
• Berlin (1945) ^[2]
• "The Return of Demobilized Warriors from Berlin" (1945)
• Victory Parade (1945)
• “The trial in Smolensk” (1946)
• “Soviet Armenia” (1950)
• "Songs over the Vistula" (1955)
• "Above the highest mountains" (1961)
• Brumel Jumps (1961)
• Katyusha (1964)
• The Artist (1966)
• " Gymnastics and Tailcoat " (1968)
• Take Us, Tourists (1970)

• Levitan Arkady Yulianovich on the website of RuDat
• A. Yu. Levitan on the site "Persons" (inaccessible link)
• Levitan on the list of filmmakers meeting participants