Film director. Honored Artist of the Kyrgyz SSR (1962). Member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union since 1918. Born on April 7, 1894, in the city of Riga into a working-class family, died in 1978 in the city of Frunze. Completed 4 grades of primary school. Began working in 1909. Was an apprentice and typesetter at the printing house of the newspaper "Pribaltiyskiy Kray," and a loader. From 1918, he participated in the Civil War as an assistant company commander and commissioner on the Eastern Front. In 1920-1921, he studied at the Higher Military School first in the city of Omsk and then in Kyiv. In 1922, he worked as the head of the department of public education in the Kyiv district and as the secretary of the Darnytsia district committee of the party of the Kyiv regional committee.
Since 1923, after completing a course at the School of Screen Arts, Erdman began working at the Odessa film studio. His acting talent was showcased in films such as "Ostap Bandura" (1924, worker Anisim) by V. Gardin, "Ukrainia" (1925, soldier) by P. Chardynin, "Mariyka" (1926, vagabond) by A. Lundn, and "The Death of the Squadron" (1935, midshipman) by A. Kordyum. As a director, he shot feature films "The Homeless" (1923), "Black Forest" (1930), and at studios in Kyiv, Rostov-on-Don, and Almaty — documentary films "Lenin's Commune," "Komsomol of Ukraine," "In Memory of Ordzhonikidze," "The Riches of the Caspian," "In the Hungry Steppe," "Leningraders, My Children."
In 1943, D. Erdman became one of the pioneers of Kyrgyz documentary cinema. Over the next 20 years, he edited more than 350 issues of the newsreel "Soviet Kyrgyzstan" at the "Kyrgyzfilm" studio and directed various genre films such as "Kyrgyzstan in the Days of the Patriotic War" (1943), "Victory Day" (1945), "10 Years of the Academy" (1952), "Dam in the Mountains" (1955), "The Big Chui Canal" (1956), "High Award" (1957), "Sunny City" (1958), "Proven by Action" (1961), "Inhabitants of the Mountain Peaks" (1964).
Throughout his long creative career at "Kyrgyzfilm," D. Erdman trained a large group of young documentary filmmakers who created many bright documentary films in the 60s and 70s. He was also a mentor to directors who tied their creative fate to dubbing, as he himself gave a second life in the Kyrgyz language to several of the best films of Soviet cinema from the 50s: "Sisters," "The House Where I Live," "Born of the Storm," and others.
Through his entire creative and social activities, D. Erdman contributed to the improvement of the artistic quality of "Kyrgyzfilm" productions in the 40s and 50s.
Awards — medals "For Valorous Labor in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" (1947), "For Labor Valor" (1950), "For Labor Distinction" (1958), "For Valorous Labor. In Commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin" (1970), "Thirty Years of Victory in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" (1975). Honorary diploma from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Kazakh SSR (1940). Honorary diploma from the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Kyrgyz SSR (1946). Diploma from the Ministry of Culture of the Kyrgyz SSR (1957). Honorary diploma from the State Committee of the Council of Ministers of the Kyrgyz SSR for Cinematography (1965). Order of the "Badge of Honor" (1967). Honorary diploma from the State Cinema of the Kyrgyz SSR (1974).
Member of the Union of Cinematographers of the USSR since 1959.
WORKS ON THE DIRECTOR'S CREATIVITY
3. Khiren. A film about children and for children.— Newspaper "Young Guard," 1929, No. 118 (headline "On New Rails." Against stagnation and routine in mass work. The first initiative: the regional committee of the Komsomol and "Young Guard" organized a public screening of the new film "The Wayward"). A. Bityukov. Timeless Mastery.— "Soviet Kyrgyzstan," 1964, July 4. A. Bityukov. True to Calling.— "Art of Cinema," 1964, No. 9, p. 102.
