Mosfilm Studio / Photo Credit: Mosfilm Moscow
MOSFILM… (In the Entertainment industry. Russians
first film studio… Mosfilm)
Bruce
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Mosfilm
Mosfilm (Russian: Мосфильм, Mosfil’m pronounced [məsˈfʲilʲm])
is a film studio that is among the largest and oldest in the Russian Federation
and in Europe. Its output includes most of the more widely acclaimed Soviet-era
films, ranging from works by Andrei Tarkovsky and Sergei Eisenstein (commonly
considered the greatest Soviet directors), to Red Westerns, to the Akira
Kurosawa co-production Dersu Uzala (Дерсу Узала) and the epic War and Peace
(Война и Мир).
Film production in Russia
Film production in Russia appeared almost immediately
after the invention of cinema (the first films of the Lumiere brothers were
screened in Paris in 1895, Russia became acquainted with cinematography already
in 1896, and in the same year the first Russian film was filmed). The cinema,
as the cinema was then called, was very popular with Tsar Nicholas II, and
thanks to his patronage the novelty was rapidly spread in Russia.
Already in the first decades of the twentieth century,
several film studios worked in Russia, among which the most famous were the
atelier of Alexander Khanzhonkov and Joseph Yermoliev.
"The development of my own production of paintings
absorbed all my attention, all thoughts, dreams and thoughts. I bought a plot
of land on Zhitnaya Street, with old houses that could only be regarded as a
building material. On this site, I moved the atelier from Krylatsky, so that
from now on I will work all year round. Work began in the spring, was carried
out at an accelerated pace and in June 1912 were already completed,
"Khanzhonkov recalled the beginning of his work. It was his studio at
Zhitny (area of 400 square meters) that became the basis of the future
Mosfilm.
After the revolution, the government of Soviet Russia
quickly assessed the role of cinema as a powerful tool of propaganda, and in
1919, by a special decree, nationalized all existing film studios. By the way,
the phrase of VI Lenin on the meaning of the cinema completely sounded like
this: "While the people are illiterate, for us the most important of the
arts is cinema and circus ..."
The Moscow film production unit with studio facilities was
established in November 1923 by the motion picture mogul Aleksandr Khanzhonkov
("first film factory") and I. Ermolev ("third film
factory") as a unit of the Goskino works. The first movie filmed by
Mosfilm was On the Wings Skyward (directed by Boris Mikhin).
In 1923, after nationalization and overhaul, Khanzhonkov's
film studio turned into the First Goskino factory. Another, the factory - the
Third, was located in the former studio of Ermoliev in Bryansk lane, near the
Kiev railway station. Their unification in 1923 laid the foundation for the
future "Mosfilm". In November 1923, work at the new enterprise began
with the filming of the film directed by Boris Mikhin "On the wings of
skyward." On the screens the film was released in January 1924. Since that
time, the studio began to work as a formed creative team and it is this date
that is considered today the birth of the studio.
"I came there
in 1924," recalled the famous director of Mosfilm, Abram Matveyevich Rohm.
- Everything was just developing. It was a wooden building, very naive, very
old - not in a museum sense, but simply old. It was cramped, not always
comfortable, but cozy. Without any invitation, without pay, as for work, Babel,
Shklovsky, came. Aseev, Brick, took up everything, helped to make inscriptions,
shared ideas, criticized shamelessly. This was our home on Zhitny; the names
changed every two years, and we all called it simply "Zhitnaya", and
for many years later recalled this unique flavor of the beginning, the youth of
art. We were young. And the young was the very art of cinema, to which everyone
on Zhitnoy gave themselves entirely, not caring about time. The equipment
barely breathed, there was no transport, but it was there, on Zhitna, films
were made, which served as the basis for our cinema. We were all very friendly.
They swore, argued, quarreled, but were friends. The small viewing room was
divided into two parts by a cotton curtain, in one half I mounted the "Bay
of Death", behind the curtain worked Eisenstein. From time to time we
dropped the curtain and looked at each other for what it was. In this case, the
disputes began unimaginable.
The mechanics and laboratory assistants took an active
part in all this. We came to a close laboratory, the developer took out a frame
with a wet film from the water, worrying no less than us. Everything was handcrafted,
everything was done by hands, and maybe that's why in the old paintings I still
feel the warmth of these hands.
Ideas were born unplanned, came from life, perhaps because
the small studio was not a separate island in this life. The currents of time
pierced it, like the rays of X-ray, and in response to questions that asked
time, films came.
In the mid-1920s, along with the famous "Battleship
Potemkin" Sergei Eisenstein, for the first time the directors of the
Goskino Factory, who soon became widely known, were voiced - Lev Kuleshov,
Abram Roome, Vsevolod Pudovkin.
Cinema became the most effective confirmation of the new
life of Soviet Russia. But making films became more difficult. "The tiny
studio on Zhitnaya Street, its glass sides with purple curtains, was more like
an old photo studio," Eisenstein recalled. At the same time, many works on
the film were produced in other places - printing films, sewing costumes and
other - were carried out in different areas of Moscow.
New horizons required a new scope
And then it was decided to build not just a new studio,
but a fundamentally new movie city, where all the stages of film production
will be assembled, so that all the necessary works can be produced without loss
of time, where all services should be conveniently and compactly and
expediently, and it would be possible to prepare all you need for shooting - to
make a movie, conduct editing and toning work, developing and printing a film,
up to the release of the film's circulation in the rental. This Europe did not
know yet. In a sense, Hollywood was the analogue of such a movie city, with
which young directors Eisenstein, Alexandrov and operator Tisse met while on a
trip to the USA in the 1920s.
An undeniable advantage of this principle was the project
of building Mosfilm model for architectural projects of other film studios of
the USSR. The same principle is distinguished by Mosfilm till now - the
introduction of the newest developments in all the indissoluble technological
chain firmly hold our studio the place of the foremost enterprise of the
Russian film industry.
On November 20, 1927, the solemn laying of a new film
factory was held on the Lenin Hills (near Potylikha Farm). The invitation card
details how to drive and pass to the place where the buildings of the Mosfilm
studios will rise several years later. There ended the town and began the
village suburbs - with small wooden houses, gardens and orchards. On the
Sparrow Hills there was still a summer pavilion, where Muscovites came to rest
on weekends and drink tea from the samovar, admiring the village outskirts of
Luzhniki, behind which from the outpost to the outpost in the blue evening haze
electric lights were lit.
By the end of January 1931, in a building that had not
been completely rebuilt, the relocation of the First and Third Soyuzkino film
studios began. On February 9, 1931, the grand opening of a new film factory
took place. In March, it was merged with the Moscow Sound Factory on Lesnaya
Street and was named the Moscow United Factory "Soyuzkino" named
after the Decade of October.
Despite the fact that at that time the factory represented
only one-third of the bulk that was being built and two-thirds built, in which,
it seemed, there could be no talk of any kind of shooting, the work began here
immediately.
However, the film industry had to face an unexpected
problem - the cinema became sound, but the project that built the
"Mosfilm", was developed back in the 20's, when the films were still
dumb. Therefore, the constructed pavilions were not adapted for synchronous
with the sound of filming, and the production of sound pictures under these
conditions cost the studio employees a lot of work. Serious work on acoustic
finishing and soundproofing the first four shooting pavilions was possible only
after the war.
Already in the first decades films were filmed, which we
look at with pleasure until now. Following the "Merry Guys" Grigory
Alexandrov released such wonderful comedies as "Circus",
"Volga-Volga", in which glittered the popularly beloved actress
Lyubov Orlova. In the same years, Ivan Pyryev shot the comedy
"Tractor" and "Pig and Shepherd", in which the main role
was played by another star of the Soviet screen of the 30s - Marina Ladynina.
In the film of Konstantin Yudin "The Girl with the Character" of the
audience won Valentina Serova, and the brilliant role of Faina Ranevskaya in
the picture of Tatyana Lukashevich "The Foundling" we admire
today.
Everything changed with the war
In September 1941, when the Germans were advancing towards
Moscow, all the studios were evacuated to the east in Alma-Ata by the
government's decision. 950 employees of Mosfilm, abandoning their armor, left
as volunteers in the division of the national militia and in the Special 3rd
Moscow Communist Infantry Division. 685 studio workers were awarded orders and
medals, 146 Mosfilm students did not return from the front.
Only one special purpose shop remained in the Vorobyovy
Gory buildings, in which a group of masters, engineers and hundreds of
adolescents carried out military orders - manufactured missile and assault boat
parts.
At the end of 1941, based on the local Alma-Ata studio of
feature films and evacuated "Mosfilm" and "Lenfilm" - the
Central United Film Studio of feature films (COCS) emerged. In difficult
conditions, the production of films was quickly established. Instead of
pavilions, a circus "chapito" was used, large mock-ups and
backgrounds were placed under its enormous dome, the pictures were shot in
poorly adapted rooms, with a severe shortage of actors, technical workers, in
the conditions of severe shortage of film, equipment and so forth.
During this period, the question arose as to what to do
with unfinished films started in peacetime - such as "Pig and
shepherd". Director Ivan Pyryev recalled: "I decided that it would be
useless to continue shooting our purely peaceful film. Many members of our film
crew applied for membership in the army, received a summons to appear at the
military enlistment office and I. Having informed the director of the studio
about this, I was already at the collection point the next morning. However,
when we, the "spare" people, examined, registered and built to take
us to the barracks, the car of the studio entered the courtyard ... I was
immediately "put out", put in a car and taken back. It turns out that
it was instructed to shoot "Piglet" at any price to continue, and I
have to book for the time being. Four months, during the period of enemy raids
on Moscow,
In the hardest front-line conditions, people are much more
than in peacetime it took rest. That is why during the war the film industry
was equated with the military - in spite of everything in these years sparkling
comedies or films supporting general morale continued to be shot, and many
popular actors went to the front as part of special front-line brigades.
Already at the end of 1942, as soon as it became possible,
it was decided to restore the film studio "Mosfilm". It was necessary
to resume the work of all production and technical and subsidiary shops, and
creative workers and engineering personnel began to return from Alma-Ata. At
the studio, the old workers demobilized from the army after the wounds were
sent to the studio. In addition, a small art and craft school was organized at
Mosfilm to train new cadres. And by the end of 1943 all the main studios of the
studio were working with full load. In all, during the war years, Mosfilm
created about twenty full-length pictures, including the famous paintings
"Ivan the Terrible" by Sergei Eisenstein, "Invasion" by
Abram Room, and others.
On the central square "Mosfilm" in front of the
Main Building, on the 20th anniversary of the Victory, an obelisk was opened in
memory of the dead workers of the studio. From here they went to the defense of
Moscow and 146 people gave their lives for the freedom of the Motherland. In
the May days, solemn rallies are held here annually, where veterans of the
Great Patriotic War are honored. Nearby there is a monument - specially made
for the shooting of the picture "Optimistic tragedy", he remained
forever standing on the square as a symbol of indestructible courage.
Despite the difficult years of war, film production
continued to develop, and in 1944, one of the first color films, Ivan
Nikulin-the Russian Sailor (directed by I.Savchenko), was filmed on a specially
created studio equipment. And already in 1946 the picture of director Alexander
Ptushko "Stone Flower" received the International Prize at the Cannes
Festival for the best use of color.
At this time, the studio was worked by such masters as
Alexander Dovzhenko, Ivan Pyryev, Julius Reisman, Sergei Yutkevich, Boris
Barnet, Leo Arnstam, Alexander Ptushko, Alexander Zarkhi, Mikhail Kalatozov and
others. Despite the fact that in the first post-war decade, as in the war
years, like all Soviet cinema, Mosfilm did not have an influx of young
directors, the situation changed dramatically in the mid-1950s and early 60s,
which became the era of discovering new talents. In those years Grigory Chukhrai
won the audience with the films "Forty-first" and "Ballad of the
Soldier", Sergei Bondarchuk at the first Moscow Film Festival received the
award for the film "The Fate of Man", "The Cranes Are
Flying" by Mikhail Kalatozov were awarded the Golden Palm Branch at the
11th International Film Festival in Kanne, Eldar Ryazanov became popular after
the films "Carnival Night" and "Beware of the Car"
The 60s brought in even more new director's names:
Tarkovsky withdrew the "Ivanovo Childhood" and looked at the Russian
history in Andrei Rublyov, Andron Mikhalkov-Konchalovsky turned to the internal
problems of the Russian village in "Asin's Happiness", Elem Klimov
released a brilliant the picture "Welcome, or No Trespassing",
Marlene Khutsiev took down the textbook "July Rain", Vladimir Motyl
practically created a new genre of the domestic "Eastern" film
"The White Sun of the Desert", Leonid Gaidai conquered millions of z
The famous comedies "The Caucasian Captive" and "Operation"
Y ", and Sergei Bondarchuk - the epic" War and Peace "- one of
the most difficult in the production of paintings in the world cinema. During
these years Alexander Alov and Vladimir Naumov, Larisa Shepitko, Vladimir
Basov, Yury Ozerov, Alexander Mitta, Rolan Bykov and many others. Simultaneously
with the young directors continued to work successfully the masters of the
older generation - Michael Romm withdrew "Nine Days of One Year",
Alexander Zarkhi - "Heights".
In the 1960s, Mosfilm created the first television
association in the country, where a popular multi-series film appeared. It was
here that in the 1960s and 1980s many well-known television films were shot,
such as "Calling fire on themselves" and "Operation Trust"
directed by Sergei Kolosov, "Adjutant of His Excellency" Yevgeny
Tashkov, "Little Tragedies" by Mikhail Schweitzer, "Mikhailo
Lomonosov" Alexander Proshkin.
In the 1970s, Mosfilm was glorified with paintings
"The Irony of Fate or With a Light Steam!" And "The Service
Novel" by Eldar Ryazanov, "The Red Kalina" by Vasily Shukshin,
"One Hundred Days After Childhood" by Sergei Solovyov,
"Running" by Alexander Alov and Vladimir Naumov , "My own among
strangers, a stranger among my own" Nikita Mikhalkov and many others.
Each subsequent decade, the studio produced new wonderful
pictures - "Stopped the Train" by Vadim Abdrashitov, "Go and
See" Elema Klimova, "We Are from Jazz" and "Courier"
by Karen Shakhnazarov, "Scarecrow" Rolan Bykov, "Autumn
Marathon" and "Kin "Dza-dza!" George Danelia, "Moscow
does not believe in tears," Vladimir Menshov. In complex perestroika
times, the studio was able to survive the chaos and general devastation, still
films continued to be filmed here, the most significant of which were
"Midshipmen" by Svetlana Druzhinina, Shirley-Myrli by Vladimir
Menchov, Zvezda by Nikolai Lebedev, and others.
For many years, large-scale research and experimental
production work was carried out on the technical basis of the studio, as a
result of which new technologies and samples of new technology were introduced
into the national cinema piracy, the studio has a large number of registered
patents for serious inventions. The successes achieved by the film studio
contributed to the fact that the novelties were widely introduced in other
studios of our country. Today, the Mosfilm Cinema concern after serious
modernization, as always, is open to creative cooperation, firmly holding the
place of Russia's leading film enterprise.
In 1927 the construction of a new film studio complex
began on Mosfilmovskaya Street in Sparrow Hills of Moscow. This film studio was
named after the Moscow amalgamated factory Soyuzkino the Tenth Anniversary of
the October. In 1934 the film studio was renamed to Moskinokombinat, and in
1936 – to Mosfilm. During World War II the film studio personnel were evacuated
to Alma-Ata (August 1941) and merged with other Soviet production units into
the Central United Film Studio (TsOKS). The Mosfilm personnel returned to
Moscow at the end of 1943.
The famous Mosfilm logo, representing the monument
"Worker and Kolkhoz Woman" by Vera Mukhina and Spasskaya Tower of the
Kremlin, was introduced in 1947 in the musical comedy, Spring directed by
Grigori Aleksandrov and starring Lyubov Orlova and Nikolai Cherkasov.
By the time the Soviet Union was no more, Mosfilm had
produced more than 3,000 films. Many film classics were shot at Mosfilm
throughout its history and some of these were granted international awards at
various film festivals.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Mosfilm
continued operations as a quasi-private production company, led by film
director Karen Shakhnazarov. As of 2005, the company embraced ten independent
studios, located within 13 sound stages occupying an area of 13,000 sq. meters.
Tours through this "Russian Hollywood" become increasingly popular,
as they allow to view Mosfilm's enormous depot with 170 tanks and 50 vintage
cars. The biggest sound stage is leased annually to hold the Golden Eagle
Awards.
Sources,
References & Credits: Google, Wikipedia, Wikihow, Pinterest, IMDB, Linked
In, Indie Wire, Film Making Stuff, Hiive, Film Daily, New York Film Academy, The
Balance, The Numbers, Film Maker, TV Guide Magazine, Media Match, Quora, Creative
Skill Set, Investopedia, Variety, No Film School, Daily Variety, The Film
Agency, Best Sample Resume, How Stuff Works, Career Trend, Producer's Code of
Credits, Producers Guild of America, Film Connection, Entertainment Careers, Adhere
Creative, In Deed, Glass Door, Pay Scale, Merriam-Webster, Job Monkey, Studio
Binder, The Collective, Production Hub, The Producer's Business Handbook by
John J. Lee Jr., Andrew Grant, Thought Company, Phalke Factory,
The
Guardian, Mosfilm, https://www.mosfilm.ru
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