Vladislav Mikosha

Vladislav Mikosha was born in Saratov to a father who was a sailor, illness prevented Mikosha from attending naval school. He studied at the State Institute of Cinematography from 1929 to 1934, and in the late 1930s was employed as a photographer by multiple newspapers and magazines. During World War II, he was one of several hundred cameramen operating on the front lines, with his work being published in the USSR's largest newspaper. Following the war, he photographed meetings been major world leaders, and in subsequent decades focused on creating documentaries. Mikosha's film of the Bolsheviks' dynamiting of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in 1931 was made for Stalin's viewing alone. Mikosha's videos taken as a cameraman during World War II served as the basis for multiple documentaries, and throughout his career 600 segments by him appeared in film periodicals. His works in colour include a 20-minute film of the 1945 victory parade and series of photographs from multiple Asian countries. Mikosha was awarded the USSR State Prize (previously known as the State Stalin Prize) four times, and was made a People's Artist of the USSR in 1991.

Vladislav Mikosha was born on 8 December 1909 in Saratov, a city situated along the Volga River. When he was seven, the October Revolution broke out. Mikosha's father was a sailor, and during his youth he wished to enter the same occupation, but health concerns precluded his attending Leningrad's naval school. In the late 1920s, Mikosha obtained an Akeley Camera, a kind of camera invented by the naturalist Carl Akeley in 1917. Mikosha claimed that he was in possession of this type of camera earlier than any other Soviet documentary filmmaker. Between 1929 and 1934, he studied at the State Institute of Cinematography. He was hired by the Soyuzkino Chronicle, and later fired after quarrelling with its director. From 1936 to 1939, he worked as a photographer for various newspapers and magazines: Izvestia, Pravda, Komsomolskaya Pravda, Ogoniok, and Sovetskoe Foto. During World War II, Mikosha served on the front lines as a cameraman, with his work being published in Pravda, the USSR's principal newspaper at the time. He captured events such as the siege of Sevastopol, the burning of the city of Arkhangelsk following Nazi bombings, the damage wrought by the Luftwaffe upon London, and the reclaiming of Crimea, among others. Mikosha was one of around 250 Russian cameramen performing this duty; collectively, they recorded over three million metres of film. After the war, he photographed meetings involving world leaders such as Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Nikita Khrushchev, John F. Kennedy, Fidel Castro, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Jawaharlal Nehru. In 1949, he was part of a film crew who, on the orders of Stalin, travelled to China for the purpose of producing a documentary; whilst there, he captured the proclamation of the People's Republic of China on camera. Between the 1950s and the 1970s, Mikosha focused on making documentaries about either historical, revolutionary topics or contemporary issues. He died in 2004.

Vladislav Mikosha is recorded with the occupation film director. Recorded as camera operator, documentary filmmaker, film director, photographer and documentarian.