Perehuda Oleksandr

July 28, 1893 – May 6, 1965

Ukrainian film director, screenwriter, editor, film actor, student and assistant to film director Les Kurbas.

He was born into the family of Ukrainian burghers in Zhytomyr. He graduated from the Faculty of Mathematics of St. Volodymyr University of Kyiv (1916) and the Mykola Lysenko Music and Drama School (1915).

Starting in 1922 he was an actor in the 4th Workshop of the Berezil Artistic Association in Kyiv. He came to filmmaking in 1924 together with Les Kurbas and a group of Berezil actors. He works as an actor, assistant and assistant director in all three of the master’s productions: Vendetta (1924), McDonald (the role of an American journalist, 1924), Arsenaltsi (episodic role, 1924-1925) at the Odesa Film Studio VUFKU. He made his film directing debut with the comedy Tovstopuzenko’s Dream* (1924) under the artistic direction of Les Kurbas. He continues to work as a director at the Odesa Film Studio VUFKU (1924-1928) and the Kyiv Film Studio (1929-1930), a screenwriter (1925-1951) and an editor (1950-1959).

He is an assistant director on the film Wind (1926).

He was the director of Red Presnia (1926), The Girl from the Deck (1928, co-director), Behind the Wall (1928, co-director), Pilot and Girl (1929), At the Big Break (1929), The Academy Reports (1930).

He was the screenwriter of the films Fedko’s Truth (1925), Golden Lake (1935, co-author), Amvrosii Buchma (1951, co-author with Ivan Piskun), Captain Stiopka (1953).

He was the managing director of a number of films: Stars on Wings (1955), Bloody Dawn, Main Avenue, Pedagogical Poem, The Sea Calls (1956), Malva, Steep Stairs (1957), Kyianka (The Kyiv Girl), E.A. Extraordinary Accident, Flags on the Battlements, Young Years (1958) and others. He was a member of the Union of Cinematographers of Ukraine.

Oleksandr Perehuda’s memoirs “Les Kurbas and Cinematography” are held in the collection of the Museum of Theater, Music and Cinema of Ukraine.