Izrail Goldshtein

Biography

Izrail Tsalovich (Tsalovich) Goldshtein (February 2, 1918 – February 17, 2003, Kyiv) was a Soviet and Ukrainian cinematographer and documentary filmmaker. He was named an Honored Artist of the Ukrainian SSR in 1988. Laureate of the Gold Medal of the Academy of Arts of Ukraine. People's Artist of Ukraine (2001). He enrolled at the Kyiv Film Institute, later transferring to the cinematography department of the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (L. Kosmatov's workshop), which he graduated from in 1939. In 1940–1941, he was a cinematographer at the Ukrainian Film Chronicle Studio. He participated in World War II and was a member of the group of frontline cinematographers of the Central Documentary Film Studio. From January 1942, he was in the film group of the Southwestern and Don Fronts. From September 1942 to 1944, he was a member of the film group of the Stalingrad and Central Fronts. In 1944–1945, he was a member of the film group of the 1st Ukrainian Front. [2] From 1945 to 1997, he was a cameraman and director at the Ukrkinochronika studio. From 1980, he taught at the Karpenko-Karyi Kyiv State Institute of Theatre Arts. He was a member of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR (1958). In his later years, he walked with a cane, and due to increasing pain, he switched to a wheelchair—his hip joint was deteriorating. In 1998, filmmakers and concerned individuals raised funds for surgery, and his joint was replaced with an artificial one. In his nineties, he continued to go to film shoots. His chronicle work was used in films by Alexander Dovzhenko. Vladlen Kuznetsov shot almost three dozen films with him. He died in 2003 in Kyiv. In 2001, the Kyivnaukfilm studio made a documentary about him, Passengers of the Last Century, directed by V. Olander.