Sergei Gerasimov on AllMovie

Russian filmmaker and screenwriter Sergei Gerasimov is best known to Western audiences for Tikhy Don/And Quiet Flows the Don, an epic trilogy based on Mikhail Sholokhov's sweeping novel. Gerasimov was born in Zlatoust, a town located in the Ural Mountains. Following studies at the Institute of Stage Art in Leningrad, Gerasimov joined the innovative Factory of the Eccentric Actor in the mid-'20s, and in 1927 started acting in films. Three years later, Gerasimov made his first feature, Dvadtsat dva Neschastya/Twenty-Two Misfortunes, in collaboration with Sergei Bartenev. Gerasimov was always pro-socialist and had his first real success with his Soviet propaganda film Komsomolsk/City of Youth in 1938. In 1941, Gerasimov made yet another propaganda film, Uchitel/The New Teacher, to attack the current educational system. Gerasimov became a full-fledged member of the Communist Party in 1944 and was appointed to lead the Soviet Institute of Cinematography and also held a chair on the State Committee for Film. Gerasimov has also penned several books on filmmaking.