Discover

'Kinostudiya "Lenfilm"' (in Russian, Киностудия Ленфи́льм) was a production unit of the Soviet film industry, with its own film studio, located in Leningrad, R.S.F.S.R..

Contents

History

Selected films

See also

External links

History

The territory of Lenfilm was originally in the private ownership of the ''Aquarium'' garden, which belonged to the merchant Georgy Alexandrov, who operated a restaurant, a public garden and a theatre. The composer Peter Tchaikovsky came to what was then the ''Aquarium'' theatre (and is now Stage # 4 of Lenfilm) as a guest to the performance of the overture to his ''Nutcracker'' ballet. Famous Russian bass singer Feodor Chaliapin and the star of the Soviet stage Leonid Utyosov sang here.
The Leningrad film studio facilities was established in 1918 and had a different name. From 1934 named ''Lenfilm''.
During the World War II the film studio was evacuated to Alma-Ata (1942) and merged with other Soviet film studios into the ''Central United Film Studio'' (''TsOKS''). The Lenfilm returned to Leningrad at 1944.
Today in the Aquarium Theater there is a stage where many famous Lenfilm pictures had been shot and many film stars played their roles. George Cukor in 1975 made a film here called ''The Blue Bird''. Elizabeth Taylor was here, she played ''Queen of light'' in this film. Jane Fonda, Ava Gardner – they worked here, at Stage # 4, the prior Aquarium Theatre. Orlando was partly filmed here with Tilda Swinton. Afghan Breakdown was shot here by Vladimir Bortko, with Michele Placido, who plays a Russian Colonel. In the beginning of the 1990s there were about a dozen famous American scriptwriters, the winners of Oscars, here.
By the end of the Soviet Union, Lenfilm had produced about 1,500 films. Many film classics were shot at Lenfilm throughout its history and some of these were granted international awards at various film festivals.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it became a quasi-private film production company of Russia, retaining its name in spite of renaming of the city of Leningrad to St. Petersburg.
Lenfilm is a place that is tightly connected with the world celebrities, such as those mentioned and Jane Fonda, Maximilian Schell, Marina Vlady, Julia Ormond, Michael Caine, William Hurt, Sophie Marceau, Sean Bean, Sandrine Bonnaire, Gérard Philipe, and with many great Russians: Vladimir Mayakovsky, Veniamin Kaverin, Sergey Kuryokhin, Daniil Granin etc.

Selected films

★ 1934 ''Чапаев / Chapaev'' (cult film)

★ 1949 ''Александр Попов / Alexander Popov'' (biographical film)

★ 1960 ''Пиковая дама / The Queen of Spades'' (film adaptation)

★ 1963 ''Каин XVIII / Kain XVIII'', directed by Erast Garin (film adaptation)

★ 1964 ''Гамлет / Hamlet'', directed by Grigori Kozintsev (drama), the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival in 1962 nominated and Special Jury Prize winner.

★ 1976 ''Синяя птица / The Blue Bird'', directed by George Cukor (film adaptation)

★ 1978 ''Одинокий голос человека / The Lonely Voice of Man'', directed by Alexander Sokurov (drama)

★ 1980 ''Разжалованный / The Degraded'', directed by Alexander Sokurov (short film)

★ 1981 ''Приключения Шерлока Холмса и доктора Ватсона. Собака Баскервилей / The Hound of the Baskervilles'', directed by Igor Maslennikov (film adaptation)

★ 1982 ''Пиковая дама / The Queen of Spades'', directed by Igor Maslennikov (film adaptation)

★ 1983 ''Скорбное бесчувствие / Painful Indifference'', directed by Alexander Sokurov (war film)

★ 1986 ''Ампир / Empire'', directed by Alexander Sokurov (short film)

★ 1987 ''Письма мёртвого человека / Dead Man's Letters'' (sci-fi)

★ 1991 ''Афганский излом / Afghan Breakdown'' (war film)

See also

★ Mosfilm

★ Gorky Film Studio

★ Belarusfilm

★ Olexandr Dovzhenko Film Studios

★ Soyuzmultfilm

★ Cinema of the Soviet Union

External links

★

★

★ Lenfilm official site