Fyodor Otsep (1895-1949)
Prominent screenwriter and director.
Born on February 9, 1895, in Moscow, Fyodor Otsep began his film career as a screenwriter, first adapting Alexander Pushkin’s The Queen of Spades (1916) for director Yakov Protazanov. Over the next 10 years, Otsep wrote four more scenarios, including Aelita: Queen of Mars (1924), until making his debut as a film director alongside Boris Barnet with their three-part adventure serial Miss Mend in 1926.
In 1928, Otsep traveled to Germany to direct the German/Russian co-production The Living Corpse. After completing production, he remained living there until the rise of the Nazi regime forced him to leave and relocate to France. Otsep continued to make films in France, including another version of The Queen of Spades (1937), which he directed. At the outbreak of WWII, Otsep was placed into an internment camp until he was eventually released after the fall of Paris in 1940. He then travelled to Morocco where he remained before traveling to North America. Otsep directed two films in Quebec, Le père Chopin (1944) and Whispering City (1947) before he passed away on June 20, 1949.
Sources
Born on February 9, 1895, in Moscow, Fyodor Otsep began his film career as a screenwriter, first adapting Alexander Pushkin’s The Queen of Spades (1916) for director Yakov Protazanov. Over the next 10 years, Otsep wrote four more scenarios, including Aelita: Queen of Mars (1924), until making his debut as a film director alongside Boris Barnet with their three-part adventure serial Miss Mend in 1926.
In 1928, Otsep traveled to Germany to direct the German/Russian co-production The Living Corpse. After completing production, he remained living there until the rise of the Nazi regime forced him to leave and relocate to France. Otsep continued to make films in France, including another version of The Queen of Spades (1937), which he directed. At the outbreak of WWII, Otsep was placed into an internment camp until he was eventually released after the fall of Paris in 1940. He then travelled to Morocco where he remained before traveling to North America. Otsep directed two films in Quebec, Le père Chopin (1944) and Whispering City (1947) before he passed away on June 20, 1949.
Sources
ESSENTIAL FILMOGRAPHY
1924 – Aelita: Queen of Mars (Writer)
1925 – The Station Master (Writer)
1926 – Miss Mend
1929 – The Living Corpse
Complete Filmography
1925 – The Station Master (Writer)
1926 – Miss Mend
1929 – The Living Corpse
Complete Filmography