Mirkine? It's a name, engraved in the legend of cinema. And it's a superb production, the work of Léo and his son, Yves ‘Siki' Mirkine.
The Mirkine saga begins in Kiev, Ukraine. Nine years later, uprooted by the October revolution, he moves to Nice with his family. He graduates in architecture then enters the world of cinema through the backdoor. At first, he is only an extra but he rapidly stands out, with his extraordinary personality and charisma: he becomes a set-designer assistant, then an on-set photographer, a bygone noble craft.
Together, Léo and Yves Siki Mirkine built a collection of photographs with no equivalent around the world. They were the irreplaceable witnesses of a great era of French cinema. Inspired, they explored the rich hours of the Cannes Film Festival, ever since it was created in 1946.
The two Mirkine men lived and made it possible for others to live the shooting of over one hundred and fifty movies. They took pictures from all of Christian Jaque's films, from the ones made in the thirties to the bouncing "Fanfan la Tulipe"1. They took pictures from many other movies that, ever since, became major classics. To name a few: "Un carnet de bal"2 by Julien Duvivier, "J'accuse"3 by Abel Gance, "Les Diaboliques"4 by Henri-Georges Clouzot, "Et Dieu... créa la femme"5 by Roger Vadim and "Le Testament d'Orphée"6 by Jean Cocteau.
Where did the Mirkine magic - the father's and the son's - come from? What made the Mirkine eye so special, so thoughtful, and even so loving? You have to go back to WW2, April 20th 1944, the day when Léo Mirkine, a pro-communist Jew wanted by the Gestapo, is arrested. Then to April 22nd, two days later, when his ten year old son, Yves is taken during a raid from the Seranon presbytery, in the Alps Maritime region, along with six other boys. They both escaped transportation. But there you are. The Mirkines, both extremely kind and sometimes abrupt, even harsh men were not only photographers; they were survivors. More than anyone they knew just how much lightness, beauty and light were worth.
The Mirkine saga begins in Kiev, Ukraine. Nine years later, uprooted by the October revolution, he moves to Nice with his family. He graduates in architecture then enters the world of cinema through the backdoor. At first, he is only an extra but he rapidly stands out, with his extraordinary personality and charisma: he becomes a set-designer assistant, then an on-set photographer, a bygone noble craft.
Together, Léo and Yves Siki Mirkine built a collection of photographs with no equivalent around the world. They were the irreplaceable witnesses of a great era of French cinema. Inspired, they explored the rich hours of the Cannes Film Festival, ever since it was created in 1946.
The two Mirkine men lived and made it possible for others to live the shooting of over one hundred and fifty movies. They took pictures from all of Christian Jaque's films, from the ones made in the thirties to the bouncing "Fanfan la Tulipe"1. They took pictures from many other movies that, ever since, became major classics. To name a few: "Un carnet de bal"2 by Julien Duvivier, "J'accuse"3 by Abel Gance, "Les Diaboliques"4 by Henri-Georges Clouzot, "Et Dieu... créa la femme"5 by Roger Vadim and "Le Testament d'Orphée"6 by Jean Cocteau.
Where did the Mirkine magic - the father's and the son's - come from? What made the Mirkine eye so special, so thoughtful, and even so loving? You have to go back to WW2, April 20th 1944, the day when Léo Mirkine, a pro-communist Jew wanted by the Gestapo, is arrested. Then to April 22nd, two days later, when his ten year old son, Yves is taken during a raid from the Seranon presbytery, in the Alps Maritime region, along with six other boys. They both escaped transportation. But there you are. The Mirkines, both extremely kind and sometimes abrupt, even harsh men were not only photographers; they were survivors. More than anyone they knew just how much lightness, beauty and light were worth.
Léo and Yves Mirkine, it's a whole century of cinema, one hundred years that we can enjoy today, thanks to Stéphane their heiress.