Leon Theremin

Actor

Leon Theremin is considered a pioneer of electronic music and an influential figure in science, art, and pop culture. His performances and interviews in documentaries not only demonstrate how the instrument named after him works, but also his influence on 20th-century sound aesthetics. In ELEKTRO MOSKVA (2013, directed by Elena Tikhonova and Dominik Spritzendorfer), he is positioned as the starting point of Soviet and post-Soviet electronic music history; archive material clearly shows how his invention influenced technology, music, and even surveillance technologies. Previously, Theremin: An Electronic Odyssey (1993, directed by Steven M. Martin) honored his life and work in a comprehensive film biography that traced his exile, his return to the USSR, and the lasting popularization of the instrument. The film won the Documentary Filmmakers Trophy at the Sundance Film Festival and remains one of the definitive references on the inventor and his instrument. These works document Theremin's significance beyond music history: they show an innovator who combined artistic practice and engineering. The rediscovery of his persona in cinema and television made the theremin accessible to new generations of musicians—from experimental electronic music to film scores. This creates a consistent picture of an inventor whose idea of playing without touching is symbolic of the connection between technology, body, and space, and who continues to have an audible impact on audiovisual culture to this day.

Films on Sooner

Elektro Moskva

2013

86 mins

Documentary, Music, Dance, Theater

An essayistic story about the last century of Soviet and post-Soviet electronic music - from Leon Theremin to Putin's Russia.