Producer-Director/Filmmaker – Video, Television, Cinema, New Media

Born New York City

Education

o        City University of New York, BA, Russian language, cinema

o        St. John’s College, Annapolis, Maryland, Ancient Greek, French, classics,  philosophy, literature, history, algebra, sciences, music

o        Moscow Cinema Institute, “VGIK” in documentary directing

o        Moscow State University, Russian language, history, geography

o        Accounting for Executives, Arthur Andersen offices, Moscow

o        Avid non-linear video editing, CUNY, New York

o        Bronx High School of Science, New York; journalism, calculus, hematology, microbiology, French, violin

Video Art

Dimitri’s work has been exhibited in the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Museum of Modern Art, Paris, the Berlin Film Festival, Lenbach Haus, Munich, the American Cultural Centers, Paris and London, Everson Museum, Syracuse, Walker Arts Center, Minneapolis.

He began experimenting with video in Santa Barbara, California, then moved to New York. He became co-director of “The Kitchen,” an electronic arts theater in Manhattan with Woody and Steina Vasulka and Rhys Chatham. He organized an annual International Computer Arts Festival at The Kitchen.

He worked with Charlotte Moorman, helping her organize the New York Avant-Garde festival on the Staten Island ferry.

Acquainted with John Lennon, Dimitri invited him to give a one-day course in music at the experimental school where Dimitri was teaching mathematics.

Collaborated with Nam June Paik for a broadcast on WNET Channel 13 New York titled “Media Shuttle: New York-Moscow,” which is frequently shown worldwide.(see videos).

Won grants from New York State Council on the Arts, Rockefeller Foundation, and the National Endowment on the Arts.

Traveled widely as videographer, produced programs and live presentations in France, UK, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, later China (8 times), Africa (3 times), Brazil, El Salvador, Russia.

Russia

• Studied documentary filmmaking at VGIK under Roman Karmen, Russia’s great director of historical documentaries.

• Studied colloquial, business and literate Russian language

• Contacts in film, media, city governments in Moscow, St. Petersburg

• Worked for Metromedia, based in Moscow over 5 years, held “Power of Attorney” ran “Digital Dubbing Services” - an Avid recording studio in Mosfilm Cinema Center, managed 12 full time, up to 20 daily employees

Producer of Independent Documentaries, programs broadcast in the US on ABC, PBS, MTV, and A&E, French Antenne 2 and 3, British Channel Four TV, German TV WDR. Emmy nomination for “Video From Russia: The People Speak” on KABC Los Angeles.

Line producer on Feature Films – six major 35mm features for Mosfilm, including a blockbuster comedy about the Russian Mafia, “Its Raining in Brighton Beach,” shot in Brooklyn and Atlantic City with Russian superstars Dmitri Kharatyan and director Leonid Gaidai. A classic, it airs often on Russian TV. Also, line producer of cult film “The House Under the Starry Sky” directed by Sergei Solovyev.        

Russia & media specialist, lecturer US universities, represented by Jodi Solomon Speakers’ Bureau, spoke in over 40 colleges nationally. Documentary maker, experience in Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, the Caucasus, Baltic Republics. Consultant, writer, speaker, often on radio and TV.

TV News – “CBS Evening News with Dan Rather,” “Sunday Morning,” at the CBS News Moscow and Worldwide Television News. Stories covered include the Armenian earthquake, the Gorbachev/Reagan Summit in Moscow, the Gorbachevs “take” Manhattan, collapse of the Soviet Union. Also covered the war in El Salvador, apartheid in South Africa, Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture.

Television Executive
Metromedia International, Director, Special Projects, Cable TV group, based in Moscow. 1994-1999

Streamedia Communications, Inc. Vice President, Europe, based in Amsterdam, 2000 -2001.

Teacher  - Courses at SUNY Purchase, Ramapo College, New Jersey, and New York University, on digital video production and news videography.

Currently Dimitri is an independent producer of video documentaries, news and films.