Boris Kaufman

This article is about the cinematographer. For other people with the same name, see Boris Kaufman (disambiguation).

In this name that follows Eastern Slavic naming customs, the patronymic is Abelevich and the family name is Kaufman.

Boris Kaufman
Born	Boris Abelevich Kaufman (1906-08-24)August 24, 1906 Białystok, Grodno Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	June 24, 1980(1980-06-24) (aged 73) New York City, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Paris
Occupation	Cinematographer
Relatives	Dziga Vertov Mikhail Kaufman

Boris Abelevich Kaufman, A.S.C. (Russian: Бори́с А́белевич Ка́уфман; August 24, 1906 – June 24, 1980) was a Russian-born American cinematographer^[1][2] and the younger brother of Soviet filmmakers Dziga Vertov and Mikhail Kaufman.

Life and career

Kaufman was born into a family of Jewish intellectuals in Białystok when Congress Poland was 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, better known as Dziga Vertov, stayed in the Soviet Union and became important filmmakers, producing avant-garde and agitprop films. The brothers later stayed in touch primarily by letters; Vertov visited Boris Kaufman in Paris twice, in 1929 and 1931.

After graduating from the University of Paris, Kaufman turned to cinematography,^{[citation needed]} collaborating with Jean Vigo and Dimitri Kirsanoff. During World War II, he served in the French Army against the Nazis; when France fell, Kaufman escaped to Canada. After working briefly with John Grierson for the National Film Board of Canada, he moved to the United States in 1942.

Kaufman supported himself by filming short subjects and documentaries until director Elia Kazan chose him as director of photography for On the Waterfront (1954), Kaufman's first American feature film, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Black and White) and a 1955 Golden Globe Award. For Kazan's Baby Doll (1956), he received a second Oscar nomination.^[3] Kaufman was director of photography for Sidney Lumet's first film, 12 Angry Men (1957), and The Pawnbroker (1964). Retiring in 1970, he died in New York City on June 24, 1980, 3 months after his brother Mikhail.

Selected filmography

Year	Title	Director	Notes
1929	À propos de Nice	Jean Vigo	Short film
1931	Jean Taris, Swimming Champion	Jean Vigo	Short film
1933	Zero for Conduct	Jean Vigo
	The Agony of the Eagles	Jean Mamy
1934	L'Atalante	Jean Vigo
	The Path to Happiness	Jean Mamy
	Zouzou	Marc Allégret
1936	You Can't Fool Antoinette	Paul Madeux
	When Midnight Strikes	Léo Joannon
1937	Cinderella	Pierre Caron
1938	Fort Dolorès	René Le Hénaff
1939	The Fatted Calf	Serge de Poligny	with Philippe Agostini
1940	Serenade	Jean Boyer	with Claude Renoir
1944	Hymn of the Nations	Alexander Hammid	Short film
1945	A Better Tomorrow	Alexander Hammid	Short film
1947	Journey Into Medicine	Willard Van Dyke	Documentary film
1949	Roller Derby Girl	Justin Herman	Short film
1951	The Gentleman in Room Six	Alexander Hammid	Short film
1952	Leonardo da Vinci	Luciano Emmer	Documentary film
1954	On the Waterfront	Elia Kazan	Winner - Academy Award
	Garden of Eden	Max Nosseck
1956	Singing in the Dark	Max Nosseck
	Patterns	Fielder Cook
	Crowded Paradise	Fred Pressburger
	Baby Doll	Elia Kazan	Nomination - Academy Award
1957	12 Angry Men	Sidney Lumet
1959	That Kind of Woman	Sidney Lumet
1960	The Fugitive Kind	Sidney Lumet
1961	Splendor in the Grass	Elia Kazan
1962	Long Day's Journey Into Night	Sidney Lumet
1963	All the Way Home	Alex Segal
1964	The World of Henry Orient	George Roy Hill
	The Pawnbroker	Sidney Lumet
1965	Film	Alan Schneider
1966	The Group	Sidney Lumet
1968	Bye Bye Braverman	Sidney Lumet
	The Brotherhood	Martin Ritt
	Uptight	Jules Dassin
1970	Tell Me That You Love Me, Junie Moon	Otto Preminger

References

1. "Boris Kaufman". Cinematographers.nl.
2. "Boris Kaufman". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2013. Archived from the original on 2013-01-16.
3. "Cinematography (Black-and-White)". 1957 Oscars. Retrieved October 27, 2014.

External links

• Boris Kaufman at IMDb
• Boris Kaufman Papers. General Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.