10 Facts About Alexander Arkatov

Alexander Arkadyevich Arkatov was a Russian Jewish film director and playwright, known for works such as "L'Chaim" and "Sorrows of Sarah", both of which deal with lives in Jewish settlements in Russia.

Originally a journalist and a film critic, Arkatov started his career in cinema with the 1910 silent film "L'Chaim", based on a well known song from Jewish folklore, on which he worked as a playwright along with the French directors Maurice Maitre and Kai Hansen.

Alexander Arkatov then went on to write and direct tens of other films while traveling all over the world doing so.

One highlight in Alexander Arkatov's career has to be his 1913 film "Sorrows of Sarah" he directed which is regarded as one of the pinnacles of Jewish cinema.

Between the years 1917 and 1918, after the October Bolshevik Revolution, Alexander Arkatov worked on four films regarding lives of Jewish people while located at Odessa in a partnership with the Russian film company "Mizrakh" who are known for making the film "Jewish Life in Palestine".

Many of Alexander Arkatov's works were inspired by Sholom Aleichem's works.

At the time, Alexander Arkatov worked as the head of the State School of Cinema of the RSFSR People's Commissariant of Education.

From 1940 to 1945, Alexander Arkatov started directing educational films for the US army.

Alexander Arkatov studied history and philology in the Imperial Novorossiya University in Odessa at the same time he studied art at the Odessa College of Arts.

Alexander Arkatov lived throughout Europe and America having lived in The Russian Empire, in Austria, Germany, New York and California.