View source for Mark Donskoy

{{Short description|Soviet film director (1901–1981)}}
{{family name hatnote|Semyonovich|Donskoy|lang=Eastern Slavic}}
{{Other uses|Donskoy (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2023}}
{{Infobox film director
| name               = Mark Donskoy
| native_name_lang   = ru
| native_name        = {{nobold|Марк Донской}}
| image              = [[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-D0716-0050-001, Moskau, Aufführung "Nackt unter Wölfen", Gespräch - cropped.jpg|200px]]
| alt                = 
| caption            = Donskoy (center) in 1963
| birth_name         = 
| birth_date         = {{birth date|1901|3|6}}
| birth_place        = [[Odessa]], Russian Empire
| death_date         = {{death date and age|1981|3|21|1901|3|6}}
| death_place        = Moscow, [[Russian SFSR]], Soviet Union
| nationality        = 
| other_names        = 
| occupation         = {{hlist|[[Film director]]|[[screenwriter]]}}
| yearsactive        = 1926{{ndash}}1981
}}

'''Mark Semyonovich Donskoy'''{{efn|{{langx|ru|Марк Семёнович Донской|{{transliteration|ru|Mark Semyonovich Donskoy}}}}}} ({{OldStyleDate|6 March|1901|21 February}}{{snd}}21 March 1981) was a Soviet [[film director]], [[screenwriter]], and studio administrative head.<ref>[https://www.sem40.ru/259748-velichie-v-ramkax-sovetskogo.html " Величие в рамках советского"] (retrieved 20 January 2019)</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=The BFI Companion to Eastern European and Russian Cinema|page=1934|author=Richard Taylor, Nancy Wood, Julian Graffy, Dina Iordanova|publisher=Bloomsbury|isbn=978-1838718497|date=2019}}</ref><ref name="rollberg">{{cite book|title=Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema|author=Peter Rollberg|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|year=2009|place=US|isbn=978-0-8108-6072-8|pages=181–184}}</ref>

== Biography ==
Mark Donskoy was born in [[Odessa]] in a Jewish family. During the Civil War, he served in the Red Army (1921-1923), and was held captive by the [[White movement|White Russians]] for ten months. After he was freed, he was discharged from military service.

He studied psychology and psychiatry at the [[Crimean Medical School]]. In 1925 he graduated from the legal department of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Crimean [[Tavrida National V.I. Vernadsky University|M.V. Frunze University]] in [[Simferopol]]. He worked in investigative bodies, in the Supreme Court of the Ukrainian SSR, and in the bar association. He published a collection of short stories drawn from his life called ''Prisoners'' (1925).<ref name="rollberg"/>

Donskoy began his career in film in 1926. He worked in the script department, but soon advanced as an assistant director in [[Moscow]]. Later he worked in [[Leningrad]] as an editing assistant. In 1935 he became the first Soviet dubbing director; he dubbed the American film ''The Invisible Man''. 

Following this, he directed numerous films. He also worked from time to time as a studio administrator: in 1938–1941, and in 1945-1955 he was the administrative director of [[Soyuzdetfilm]]'s film studio in Moscow; in 1942-1945 and in 1955-1957 he was director of the [[Kiev]] film studio; after 1957, he was director and art director of the Maxim Gorky film studio where he mentored [[Ousmane Sembène]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/gallery/2021/jun/10/father-of-african-cinema-ousmane-sembene-at-work-in-pictures|title = 'Father of African cinema' Ousmane Sembène at work – in pictures|newspaper = The Guardian|location=London|date = 10 June 2021|last1 = Gadjigo|first1 = Samba|last2 = Silverman|first2 = Jason}}</ref>

His wife was the screenwriter {{ill|Irina Borisovna Donskaya|ru|Донская, Ирина Борисовна}} (1918{{ndash}}1983).

==Selected filmography==
* ''[[The Childhood of Maxim Gorky]]'' (1938)
* ''[[Gorky 2: My Apprenticeship]]'' (1939)
* ''[[Gorky 3: My Universities]]'' (1940)
* ''[[How the Steel Was Tempered (film)|How the Steel Was Tempered]]'' (1942)
* ''{{ill|Fighting Film Album 9|ru|Боевой киносборник № 9}}'' (1942) (aka ''Diary of a Nazi'')
* ''[[Rainbow (1944 film)|Rainbow]]'' (1944)
* ''{{ill|The Taras Family|ru|Непокорённые (фильм)}}'' (1945)
* ''[[Alitet Leaves for the Hills]]'' (1949)
* ''[[Mother (1955 film)|Mother]]'' (1955)
* ''{{ill|At Great Cost/The Horse That Cried|ru|Дорогой ценой (фильм)}}'' (1957)
* ''[[Foma Gordeyev (film)|Foma Gordeyev]]'' (1959)
* ''[[A Mother's Heart]]'' (1965)

==Honours and awards==
* [[State Stalin Prize|Stalin Prize]]s:
**2nd class (1941) – for ''The Childhood of Maxim Gorky'' (1938) and ''People'' (1939)
**1st class (1946) – for ''Rainbow'' (1943)
**1st class (1948) – for ''Village Teacher'' (1947)
* [[USSR State Prize]] (1968) – for ''Heart Mother'' (1966)
* [[People's Artist of USSR]] (1966)
* [[Hero of Socialist Labour]] (1971)
* Two [[Orders of Lenin]]
* [[Order of the October Revolution]] (18 March 1981)
* [[Order of the Red Banner of Labour]]
* Highest Award of the American Film Critics Association 1944 – for ''Rainbow''
* Award of ''Daily News'' – for best foreign film shown in the U.S. in 1944 (''Rainbow'')
* Grand Prize at the [[Venice Film Festival]] 1946 – for ''The Unvanquished''
* Special prize of the Italian journalists Venice IFF 1948 – for ''My Universities''
* Award for Best Director Film Festival in Paris 1949 – for ''The Country Teacher''
* First Prize in [[Stockholm International Film Festival]] 1949 – for ''My Universities''
* Prize R. Unningtona [[Edinburgh International Film Festival]] in 1955 – for ''The Childhood of Maxim Gorky'', ''The People'' and ''My Universities''
* Prize for best director at the [[Locarno International Film Festival]] 1960 – for ''[[Foma Gordeyev (film)|Foma Gordeyev]]''
* Special Diploma in [[Karlovy Vary International Film Festival]] 1970 – for ''Rainbow''

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
<references />

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|233091}}

{{Locarno Film Festival Best Director Award}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donskoy, Mark}}
[[Category:1901 births]]
[[Category:1981 deaths]]
[[Category:Film people from Odesa]]
[[Category:People from Odessky Uyezd]]
[[Category:Jewish Ukrainian musicians]]
[[Category:Soviet Jews]]
[[Category:Communist Party of the Soviet Union members]]
[[Category:Soviet film directors]]
[[Category:Soviet screenwriters]]
[[Category:Soviet male screenwriters]]
[[Category:Soviet military personnel of the Russian Civil War]]
[[Category:People's Artists of the USSR]]
[[Category:Recipients of the USSR State Prize]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Stalin Prize]]
[[Category:Heroes of Socialist Labour]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Order of Lenin]]


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