Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein (/aznstan/; Russian: ; IPA: [srej mxajlvt jzntejn]; 22 January [O.S. 10 January] 1898 11 February 1948) was a Soviet film director and film theorist, a pioneer in the theory and practice of montage. He is noted in particular for his silent films Strike (1925), Battleship Potemkin (1925) and October (1928), as well as the historical epics Alexander Nevsky (1938) and Ivan the Terrible (1944, 1958).