Boris Kaufman
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Boris Abelevich Kaufman, A.S.C. (January 12, 1903 – June 24, 1980) was an Oscar-winning (1954) cinematographer. He was the younger brother of famous filmmakers Dziga Vertov (Denis Kaufman) and Mikhail Kaufman.
Kaufman was born into a family of Jewish intellectuals living in Białystok at the time when the Congress Poland was a part of the Russian Empire.
After the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, Poland regained its independence, and Boris moved there with his parents. Mikhail and Denis stayed in the Soviet Union and became notable Soviet filmmakers producing avant-garde and agitprop films. The three brothers later stayed in touch mainly by way of letters; Vertov visited Boris Kaufman in Paris twice, in 1929 and 1931.
After graduating from Sorbonne University, Boris turned to cinematography. He collaborated with Jean Vigo and later Dimitri Kirsanoff.
During World War II, he served in the French Army against the Nazis and when France lost he managed to escape to Canada. After working briefly with John Grierson, for the National Film Board of Canada, Kaufman moved to the United States in 1942.
He supported himself shooting short subjects and documentaries until Elia Kazan chose him to shoot his first American feature film, On the Waterfront (1954), for which Kaufman won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography and Golden Globe Award (1955). For the film Baby Doll (1956), Kaufman received a second Oscar nomination.
He was the director of photography on Sidney Lumet's first film, 12 Angry Men (1957), and The Pawnbroker (1964), among other notable films.
Boris Kaufman retired in 1970 and died in New York City in 1980.
Filmography
- 1927: Les Halles centrales
- 1928: Champs-Élysées
- 1928: La marche des machines
- 1928: 24 heures en 30 minutes
- 1929: À propos de Nice (Nizza)
- 1929: Les Halles
- 1931: Taris, roi de l'eau (Jean Taris, Swimming Champion)
- 1931: La vie d'un fleuve: La Seine
- 1932: Le mile de Jules Ladoumègue
- 1932: Travaux du tunnel sous l'Escaut (film is lost)
- 1933: Zéro de conduite (Zero for Conduct)
- 1933: Le chemin du bonheur
- 1933: L'Atalante (aka. Le chaland qui passe)
- 1934: Le Père Lampion
- 1934: Zouzou
- 1935: Lucrèce Borgia/Lucrezia Borgia
- 1935: Les berceaux
- 1935: Jeune fille au jardin
- 1935: Quand minuit sonnera
- 1936: Klokslag twaalf
- 1936: L'homme sans coeur
- 1936: Oeil-de-Lynx, détective
- 1936: On ne roule pas Antoinette/You Can't Fool Antoinette
- 1937: De man zonder hart
- 1937: Cinderella
- 1937: Êtes-vous jalouse?
- 1937: Les hommes sans nom
- 1938: Fort Dolorès
- 1938: Les gaietés de l'exposition
- 1938: A l'ombre d'une femme
- 1938: Le veau gras
- 1939: Sérénade/Schubert's Serenade
- 1943: Why We Fight
- 1943: Hymn of the Nations
- 1944: A Better Tomorrow
- 1945: Capital Story
- 1945: The Southwest/Land of Enchantment. Southwest U.S.A.
- 1946: Journey Into Medicine
- 1947: The Lambertville Story
- 1948: Terribly Talented
- 1948: Osmosis
- 1950: Preface to a Life
- 1950: The Tanglewood Story/Tanglewood, Music School and Music Festival
- 1951: The Gentleman in Room 6
- 1952: Leonardo da Vinci
- 1952: And the Earth Shall Give Back Life
- 1953: On the Waterfront
- 1954: Garden of Eden
- 1954: Within Man's Power
- 1954: Amazing What Color Can Do
- 1955: Singing in the Dark
- 1955: A Family Affair
- 1955: Patterns/Patterns of Power
- 1955: Baby Doll
- 1956: Crowded Paradise
- 1956: 12 Angry Men
- 1958: Home Again
- 1959: That Kind of Woman
- 1959: The Fugitive Kind
- 1960: Splendor in the Grass
- 1962: Long Day's Journey Into Night
- 1963: Gone Are the Days!/Purlie Victorious/The Man from C.O.T.T.O.N.
- 1963: All the Way Home
- 1963: The World of Henry Orient
- 1963: The Pawnbroker
- 1965: Film
- 1965: The Group
- 1967: Bye Bye Braverman
- 1968: The Brotherhood
- 1968: Up Tight!
- 1969: Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon
