Boris Vasilyevich Shpis (Russian: Борис Васильевич Шпис; 1903–1939) was a Soviet film director and screenwriter.

Biography

Boris Shpis was a stage designer who joined Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg's Factory of the Eccentic Actor in 1924 and worked as assistant director in all their films up to and including The Club of the Big Deed. When in 1927 Kozintsev and Trauberg decided not to continue work on the comedy Somebody Else's Coat, Shpis persuaded them to let him finish the film. The film, however, has not been released and is considered to be lost.

In 1928 Boris Shpis started to work as director, first on Soyuzkino studios (now Lenfilm) and later, together with Rashel Milman, on Belgoskino Studio (now Belarusfilm). In 1937 Shpis and Milman returned to Lenfilm to reorganize and lead all film editing done at the Studio. But soon, in Great Purge, Boris Shpis was arrested and shot.