Yevgeny Surkov

Yevgeny Danilovich Surkov (Russian: Евгений Данилович Сурков; October 18 [31] 1915, Nizhny Novgorod — June 28, 1988, Moscow)[1] was a Soviet and Russian literary, theater and film critic, editor and pedagogue.[2] Candidate of Philological Sciences (1955).

In December 1949, Surkov entered the main editorial office of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, where he worked until April 1951 as a senior scientific and control editor.

In the years 1953–1958, Surkov taught at the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute, and in 1964–1988 at VGIK, where he conducted a cinema studies workshop. Among his students are Sergey Kudryavtsev, Pyotr Shepotinnik, Ayaz Salayev.

From 1969 to 1982 he was the chief editor of Iskusstvo Kino.[3]

In February 1979, Surkov led a delegation of Soviet cinematographers at the Berlin International Film Festival and, seeing the insult of the Vietnamese people in the film The Deer Hunter, initiated a boycott of the festival by delegations from socialist countries.[4][5]

Surkov was one of the brightest and most controversial figures in Russian film studies who put their talents in the service of official ideology.[6]

On June 28, 1988, Surkov died after attempting suicide.[7] Under the will is buried in Nizhny Novgorod, in the grave of his stepfather.[1]