Editing Man with a Movie Camera (section)

{{short description|1929 Soviet silent documentary film}}
{{Other uses}}
{{distinguish|Man with a Camera}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox film
|name           = Man with a Movie Camera
|image          = Man with a movie camera 1929 2.png
|caption        = Still from ''Man with a Movie Camera''
|director       = [[Dziga Vertov]]
|writer         = Dziga Vertov
|cinematography = [[Mikhail Kaufman]]
|editing        = Dziga Vertov<br />[[Yelizaveta Svilova]]
|studio         = [[All-Ukrainian Photo Cinema Administration]] (VUFKU)<br />[[Dovzhenko Film Studios]]
|released       = {{film date|1929|1|7|df=yes}}
|runtime        = 68 minutes
|country        = Soviet Union
|language       = [[Silent film]]<br /> No [[intertitle]]s
}}

'''''Man with a Movie Camera'''''{{efn|Also known as ''A Man with a Movie Camera'', ''The Man with the Movie Camera'', ''The Man with a Camera'', ''The Man with the Kinocamera'', or ''Living Russia''. See [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0019760/releaseinfo#akas IMDB's list of alternate titles for ''Man with a Movie Camera''].}}{{efn|{{langx|ru|Человек с киноаппаратом|translit=Chelovek s kinoapparatom}}; {{langx|uk|Людина з кіноапаратом|translit=Lyudyna z kinoaparatom}}.}} is an experimental 1929 Soviet [[silent film|silent]] [[documentary film]], directed by [[Dziga Vertov]], filmed by his brother [[Mikhail Kaufman]], and edited by Vertov's wife [[Yelizaveta Svilova]]. Kaufman also appears as the titular Man.

Vertov's feature film, produced by the film studio [[All-Ukrainian Photo Cinema Administration]] (VUFKU), presents urban life in [[Moscow]], [[Kiev]]<!--See WP:KIEV--> and [[Odessa]] during the late 1920s.<ref name="nyt1">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1929/09/17/archives/the-screen.html|access-date=29 August 2022|title=Floating Glimpses of Russia|department=The Screen|type=review|date=17 September 1929|author=[[Mordaunt Hall]]|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|page=32 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171203153843/http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9A07E7D71F30E33ABC4F52DFBF668382639EDE|archive-date=3 December 2017|url-status=live}} ([https://nyti.ms/3KqzprC facsimile])</ref> It has no actors.{{sfn|Michelson|1995|loc=ch. "Dziga Vertov. On ''[[Kino-Pravda]]''. 1924, and ''The Man with the Movie Camera''. 1928"}} From dawn to dusk Soviet citizens are shown at work and at play, and interacting with the machinery of modern life. To the extent that it can be said to have "characters", they are the cameramen of the title, the film editor, and the modern Soviet Union they discover and present in the film.

''Man with a Movie Camera'' is famous for the range of [[cinematic techniques]] Vertov invented, employed or developed, such as [[Multiple exposure#Multiple exposure techniques|multiple exposure]], [[Time-lapse|fast motion]], [[slow motion]], [[Freeze-frame shot|freeze frames]], [[match cut]]s, [[jump cut]]s, [[Split screen (film)|split screens]], [[Dutch angle]]s, extreme [[close-up]]s, [[tracking shot]]s, reversed footage, [[stop motion]] animations and self-reflexive visuals (at one point it features a split-screen tracking shot; the sides have opposite Dutch angles).

''Man with a Movie Camera'' was largely dismissed upon its initial release; the work's [[fast cutting]], [[Metafiction|self-reflexivity]], and emphasis on [[Form and content|form over content]] were all subjects of criticism. In the British Film Institute's 2012 ''[[Sight & Sound]]'' poll, however, film critics voted it the [[List of films considered the best|8th greatest film ever made]],<ref>{{cite news|title=Sight & Sound Revises Best-Films-Ever Lists|url=http://www.studiodaily.com/2012/08/sight-sound-revises-best-films-ever-lists/|access-date=1 August 2012|newspaper=studiodaily|date=1 August 2012}}</ref> the 9th greatest [[The Sight & Sound Greatest Films of All Time 2022|in the 2022 poll]], and in 2014 it was named the best documentary of all time in the same magazine.<ref name="BBC-doc">{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-28602506 |title=Silent film tops documentary poll |access-date=1 August 2014 |work=BBC News|date=August 2014 }}</ref> The [[National Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Centre]] placed it in 2021 at number three of their [[list of the 100 best films in the history of Ukrainian cinema]].<ref name=Dovzhenko>{{cite web|url=https://dovzhenkocentre.org/top-100/lyudyna-z-kinoaparatom/|title=ДОВЖЕНКО-ЦЕНТРТОП – 100Людина – з кіноапаратом|trans-title=Dovzhenko Centre – Top 100 – ''A Man with a Movie Camera''|language=uk|date=2021|publisher=[[National Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Centre]]}}</ref>

In 2015, the film received a restoration using a [[135 film|35mm print]] of the only known complete cut of the film. Restoration efforts were conducted by the EYE Film Institute in [[Amsterdam]], with additional digital work by Lobster Films. While the film is in the [[public domain]], this restored version was licensed to Flicker Alley for release on [[Blu-ray]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Dziga-Vertov-The-Man-with-the-Movie-Camera-and-Other-Newly-Restored-Works-Blu-ray/129609/|title=Dziga Vertov: The Man with the Movie Camera and Other Newly-Restored Works|last=Lumbard|first=Neil|date=April 4, 2020|website=Blu-ray.com|access-date=2023-02-09}}</ref>