Sergei Eisenstein

Sergei Eisenstein was a Soviet film director and theorist, born in Riga, whose films include Strike, Battleship Potemkin and Alexander Nevsky. In his essays he argued that cinema's meaning is generated by montage: the collision of two shots produces an idea present in neither shot alone. His theory, which he linked to dialectics and to the structure of Japanese ideograms, made editing the central question of film aesthetics and remains a standard reference in philosophy of film.

Key ideas

• Montage generates meaning: two juxtaposed shots produce a new concept.
• Editing should work by conflict and collision between shots, not smooth linkage.
• Film can address the intellect as well as the emotions, through intellectual montage.
• Sound, image and rhythm can be composed together as a unified whole.

Major works

• Battleship Potemkin (film, 1925)
• The Film Sense (1942)
• Film Form (essays, English edition 1949)

In the conversation

• Debate A documentary can stage a scene and still be telling the truth Parisa Moghaddam · 4 replies
• Discussion Cutting film taught me that clock time and lived time are different things Parisa Moghaddam · 3 replies
• Discussion Does a cut make an argument? Notes from an edit suite in Tehran Parisa Moghaddam · 6 replies
• Question Is a brilliantly made propaganda film a great film, or only a skilful one? Sana Rizvi · 5 replies