Born in Stalingrad in 1933 and died in Moscow in 1998, Elem Klimov was a Soviet director whose films were repeatedly delayed or banned. His wife, Larisa Shepitko, directed The Ascent and died in a car accident in 1979 while Klimov was working on Agony, an account of Rasputin that was banned until 1985. With Come and See (1985), a harrowing film on the Nazi occupation of Belarus, he made one of the great anti-war films. After Gorbachev's reforms he became head of the Soviet Filmmakers' Union and released many shelved films, then gave up directing.
Filmography
- Welcome, or No Trespassing (1964)
- Sport, Sport, Sport (1970)
- Agony (1975)
- Farewell (1983)
- Come and See (1985)