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Russian filmmaker/screenwriter Sergei Gerasimov is best known to western audiences for directing And Quiet Flows the Don, the only one of his epic trilogy based on Mikhail Sholokhov's epic war novel to be released outside the Soviet Union. Gerasimov, was born in Zlatoust, a town located in the Ural Mountains. Following studies at the Institute of Stage Art in Leningrad, he joined the innovative Factory of the Eccentric Actor in the mid-1920s, and in 1930 he began acting in and directing films. Gerasimov was always pro-socialist and had his first real success with his Soviet propaganda film City of Youth in 1938. In 1941, he made yet another propaganda film 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.