Roman Karmen

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Roman Karmen (16 November 1906 – 28 April 1978) was a Soviet war camera-man and film director and one of the most influential figures in documentary film making; he could be considered Russia's answer to Leni Riefenstahl.

Karmen was a true believer in Communism, and roamed the world portraying the Spanish Civil War, the battles for Moscow and Leningrad in World War II, the Viet Minh resistance in the 1950's and the rise of Communism in South America in the 50's and 60's. Karmen was also granted personal access to the emergance of Communist leaders China's Mao Tse-Tung, Vietnam's's Ho Chi Minh, Cuba's Fidel Castro and Chile's Salvador Allende.

Berlin Reichstag, May 1945

Dien Bien Phu de Castries bunker, May 1954

Karmen's documentary methods were both influential and controversial, his renowned technical ability captured the emotion of war and the repetition of key shots and framings between film projects became a hallmark, but he would often blur the lines of Cinéma vérité by restaging key battles, including the liberation of Leningrad and the Battle of Dien Bien Phu, and reconstructing the 1953 invasion of Cuba by Communist forces led by Fidel Castro as a first person documentary.