Lev Kuleshov

Lev Kuleshov was a Soviet filmmaker and film theorist whose experiments helped establish montage as a central principle of cinematic expression. He founded an influential experimental workshop at Moscow’s state film school, where filmmakers including Vsevolod Pudovkin developed new approaches to editing and film acting. His best-known contribution, the Kuleshov effect, demonstrated how the arrangement of shots can create meaning and emotional responses beyond what individual images convey.