Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

Bottomless invention and frenetic, dizzying montage make this city symphony one of cinema’s sharpest, most exciting experiences nearly a century after its release.

A decade into his career as both filmmaker and theorist, Dziga Vertov made his best-known and most widely distributed film. This narrative-free portrait of city life – three unidentified cities provided the locations – is propelled by an effervescent delight in the possibilities of film, with its unexpected angles and clashing juxtapositions.

Vertov deliberately shunned what he saw as hidebound theatrical conventions such as intertitles and actors – the film’s only real protagonist is the cameraman himself. This could easily be an indulgent mess, but Vertov’s grasp of his medium is so philosophically sure-footed that it’s just as stimulating many decades later.

“David Abelevich Kaufman, also known as Dziga Vertov (a Ukrainian phrase roughly meaning ‘spinning top’), was born in 1896 into a Jewish book-dealer’s family in the city of Białystok, then part of the Russian Empire, in modernday Poland. He understood Lenin’s philosophy that film was the most important of all the propaganda forms (especially among a largely illiterate population) and his Anniversary of the Revolution (1918), which may be the first documentary ever made, should be studied in every film school. Though none of us have truly experienced Man with a Movie Camera – which has not been seen in its original form since the 1930s due to it being widely replicated and distributed at an inaccurate speed, significantly changing its rhythm and accents in a way that does not match its original score – I’m still dazzled by its artistry and anticipate the forthcoming restoration.” Dorota Lech

“‘Down with bourgeois fairytale plots and scenarios – long live life as it is!’ So said Dziga Vertov, for whom documentary was the only true revolutionary form as it freed film from false scenarios and performing actors. Man with a Movie Camera, about life in a Soviet city from dawn to dusk, was certainly revolutionary in its approach to image creation, which continually undermines and extends itself to dazzling and witty effect. As well as Vertov, the Kino-Eye Council of Three – which attempted to engender a new kind of perception through cinematic montage – comprised Vertov’s editor wife, Elizaveta Svilova, and his camera operator brother, Mikhail Kaufman. All three deserve authorship credit for the film.” Helen DeWitt

“The defining aspirational work of documentary cinema, this film understands and celebrates the power of cinematic manipulation to uncover profound artistic, emotional and existential truths.” Alan Mattli

“The dynamism of Vertov’s camerawork and montage reflect the enthusiasm of the era for speed and movement, presuppositions of urban modernity.” Carlos Alberto Mattos

“This dynamic documentary is much more than a great city symphony. It is an ode to cinema and its infinite possibilities as well as the clearest example of how even the reality that nonfiction films return to us is always constructed, the outcome of manipulation.” Cristina Formenti

1929 Ukrainian SSR, USSR
Directed by
Dziga Vertov
Featuring
Mikhail Kaufman
Running time
67 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound

Who voted for Man with a Movie Camera

Critics

Antti Alanen
Finland
Saleem Albeik
Palestine/France
Neta Alexander
USA
Alejandro Bachmann
Austria
Nicholas Baer
Netherlands
Cameron Bailey
Canada
Rose Baker
UK
Nemanja Becanovic
Montenegro
Ewerton Belico
Brazil
Nandana Bose
India
Nick Bradshaw
UK
Nicole Brenez
France
Alejandro G Calvo
Spain
Noël Carroll
USA
Dylan Cave
UK
Tom Charity
Canada/UK
Nilo Couret
USA
Ros Cranston
UK
Manishita Dass
UK/India
Helen DeWitt
UK
Bryony Dixon
UK
Shivendra Singh Dungarpur
India
Richard Dyer
UK
Joseph Fahim
Egypt
Mark Feeney
USA
Francisco Ferreira
Portugal
Thomas Flew
UK
Cristina Formenti
Italy
Marc Francis
USA
Vigen Galstyan
Armenia
Luke Gibbons
Ireland
Leo Goldsmith
USA
Antonio Gonçalves Jr
Brazil
Ed Gonzalez
USA
Aswathy Gopalakrishnan
India
Lalitha Gopalan
USA
Lisa Gotto
Austria
Ulrich Gregor
Germany
Marián Hausner
Slovakia
Arnaud Hée
France
J Hoberman
USA
Barrett Hodsdon
Australia
Jan-Christopher Horak
USA
Alexander Horwath
Austria
Jenny Horwell
UK
Adam Hyman
USA
Brian Jacobson
USA
Alessandro Jedlowski
France
Bruce Jenkins
USA
Nebojša Jovanović
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sarah K Keller
USA
Jihoon Kim
South Korea
Nino Kovačić
Croatia
Yamashita Koyo
Japan
Ivan Kozlenko
Ukraine
Jay Kuehner
USA
Annette Kuhn
UK
Amir Labaki
Brazil
Dorota Lech
Canada/Poland
Nathan Lee
USA
Isaac León-Frías
Peru
Esther Leslie
UK
Andrei Liimets
Estonia
Scott MacDonald
USA
Anna Machukh
Ukraine
Mike Maggiore
USA
Paulo Maia
Brazil
Ian Mantgani
Ireland/UK
Yevgeny Margolit
Russia
Miguel Angel Martín Maestro
Spain
Alan Mattli
Switzerland
Carlos Alberto Mattos
Brazil
Varja Močnik
Slovenia
Raya Morag
Israel
Laura Mulvey
UK
Nikolaj Nikitin
Germany
Markus Nornes
USA
Veton Nurkollari
Kosovo
Michał Oleszczyk
Poland
José Quental
Brazil
Ivan Ramljak
Croatia
Kong Rithdee
Thailand
Joe Rubin
USA
Regina Schlagnitweit
Austria
Margaret Smith
Malena Solarz
Argentina
Andrej Šprah
Slovenia
Janet Staiger
USA
Martin Stollery
UK
Can Sungu
Turkey/Germany
Amy Taubin
USA
Susana Viegas
Portugal
K. F. Watanabe
USA
Guy Westwell
UK
Charles Whitehouse
UK
Mary Wiles
New Zealand
Deane Williams
Australia
Michael Witt
UK
Slavoj Žižek
Slovenia
Nicolás Zukerfeld
Argentina

Directors

Jay Bedwani
UK
Homer Etminani
Colombia/Spain
Henry Hills
USA/Austria
Kirsten Johnson
USA
Isaac Julien
Juho Kuosmanen
Finland
Nadav Lapid
Israel
Jackie Lentzou
Greece
Michael Moore
USA
Tadhg O'Sullivan
Ireland
Andrey Paounov
Bulgaria
Laura Poitras
USA
William Raban
UK
Camilo Restrepo
Colombia
Subrata Sen
India
Béla Tarr
Hungary
Bing Wang
China
Fatma Zohra Zamoum
Algeria/France
Shengze Zhu
China/USA

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