Izya Gershtein

Izya Gershtein was a Soviet documentary filmmaker, cameraman and director who worked in Kyrgyzstan and later moved to Israel.

1923 to 2013Documentary films at KyrgyzfilmThe film "For sale to demolish"Lenin Komsomol Prize

Born: 22 June 1923, Kyiv
Died: 13 February 2013, Haifa
Occupation: camera operator, film director, screenwriter
Party: Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Izya Gershtein was born in 1923 in Kyiv

Izya Abramovich Gershtein was born on 22 June 1923 in Kyiv. In 1941 and 1942 he worked as a technician at the power plant in Aktyubinsk.

In 1942 he became an assistant cameraman at a news and documentary film studio in Frunze. Later that year he joined the Kyrgyzfilm studio, where he eventually became a director. He directed many documentaries and often wrote their screenplays, including "Chingiz Aitmatov" in 1968 and "Pamir, the roof of the world" in 1969.

His 1982 film "For sale to demolish" won a prize at the Oberhausen International Short Film Festival in 1983. He was named Honoured Culture Worker of the Kyrgyz SSR in 1974, and he also received the Lenin Komsomol Prize and the title People's Artist of the Kyrgyz SSR.

He moved to Israel in the second half of the 1990s. He died in Haifa on 13 February 2013.