Elem Klimov

Elem Germanovich Klimov (; 9 July 1933 – 26 October 2003) was a Soviet and Russian filmmaker. He studied at the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, and was married to film director Larisa Shepitko. Klimov is best known for his final film, Come and See (Иди и смотри), which follows a teenage boy in German-occupied Byelorussia during World War Two and which received universal acclaim. His work also includes black comedies, children's movies, and period dramas.

Early life Elem Klimov was born in Stalingrad into a Russian family, to German Stepanovich Klimov, an investigator who worked at the Central Control Commission of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and Kaleria Georgievna Klimova. His parents were staunch communists and his first name was an acronym derived from the names of Engels, Lenin and Marx. Nevertheless, his brother German Klimov stated that his name comes from Elam Harnish — a character of the Burning Daylight novel by Jack London, since their mother was a fan of his. During the Battle of Stalingrad, he, his mother and his baby brother were evacuated from their home and crossed the Volga on a makeshift raft. The film depicts the experiences of a 15-year-old boy joining the resistance in German-occupied Byelorussia in 1943. Speaking of how the film drew on his own childhood experience of the war, Klimov said, "As a young boy, I had been in hell... Had I included everything I knew and shown the whole truth, even I could not have watched it."

Klimov's leadership saw the belated release of many of the previously banned films and the reinstatement of several directors who had fallen out of political favor.

He died on 26 October 2003 from brain hypoxia, after six weeks in a coma.

Filmography Beware: Vulgarity (1959) The Groom (short) (1960) Look, the Sky! (1962) Welcome, or No Trespassing (1964) Adventures of a Dentist (1965) Fitil (1968, 1972) Sport, Sport, Sport (1970) Larisa (documentary short dedicated to Larisa Shepitko) (1980) Agony (1981) Farewell (1983) Come and See (1985)