Born Nov. 23 (Dec. 6), 1905, in Vitebsk. Soviet cameraman and director. Honored Artist of the RSFSR (1958). Member of the CPSU since 1925.
Volchek graduated from the camera department of the State Institute of Cinematography in 1931. Most of his pictures were filmed in creative collaboration with the director M. I. Romm—for example, Boule de suif, based on G. de Maupassant’s work (1934), The Thirteen (1937), two films about V. I. Lenin—Lenin in October (1937) and its sequel, Lenin in 1918 (1939)—and the documentary film Vladimir IVich Lenin (1949), as well as the motion pictures The Dream (1943), Person No. 217 (1945), The Russian Question (1948), Secret Mission (1950), and Murder on Dante Street (1956). Volchek has also worked with other directors. His own work as a director includes the films Cheka Employee (1964) and Accused of Murder (1970). He teaches in the camera department of the All Union State Institute of Cinematography (as a professor since 1943). Volchek received the State Prize of the USSR in 1946, 1948, and 1951 and has been awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor and various medals.