Mosfilm film studio turns 100 years old

The studio arose on the basis of nationalized film factories created in 1923 by major Russian film industrialists Khanzhonkov and Ermoliev. In 1927, a film city was founded on the Lenin (Sparrow) Hills. The studio received its current name in 1936.

Mosfilm has a glorious past. Sergei Eisenstein, Alexander Dovzhenko, Vsevolod Pudovkin, Grigory Alexandrov, Mikhail Romm, Alexander Ptushko, Grigory Chukhrai, Mikhail Kalatozov, Marlen Khutsiev, Andrei Tarkovsky, Sergei Bondarchuk, Leonid Gaidai, Vasily Shukshin, Vladimir Menshov, Alexander Mitta, Eldar Ryazanov worked here. Vadim Abdrashitov… “The Cranes Are Flying”, “White Sun of the Desert”, “The Diamond Arm”, “An Ordinary Miracle”, “The Irony of Fate, or Enjoy Your Bath!”, “Moscow Doesn’t Believe in Tears”, “Kalina Red”, “ Scarecrow”…

On the eve of the anniversary, we talked with the general director of the Mosfilm film concern, film director Karen Shakhnazarov. His films “We are from Jazz”, “Winter Evening in Gagra”, “Courier”, “City Zero”, “The Regicide”, “A Horseman Named Death”, “Anna Karenina. The History of Vronsky”, “Khitrovka. He also filmed The Sign of Four at this film studio.

— What anniversary events do you have planned?

— On January 2, a new exhibition opened in our museum, dedicated to the 100th anniversary. On January 19, the Rossiya TV channel broadcast the concert “The First 100 Years. Anniversary of the Mosfilm film studio. It took place in the First Pavilion. In my opinion, it was a good concert. There are screenings of classics created at the film studio. In fact, we have already celebrated the anniversary.

— Do you feel the magic in the number 100?

– For me it exists. This is a serious figure, an important stage for the studio and the people who once worked there and are working there now. There are thousands of them – talented and original. I met many and I am happy that I managed to work at Mosfilm all my life. It’s a great privilege.

— Did you receive any directives from above in connection with the anniversary, or was everything that was invented your initiative?

— No signals were received. The main thing is that we launched a new complex, built a cinema and concert hall, two new pavilions, and a House of Costumes and Props for the 100th anniversary, although this was not specifically planned for the date. I believe that this is our main contribution to the anniversary. Such serious construction has not been carried out at Mosfilm since the mid-1950s. It increased the studio’s capacity and production quality many times over. And everything was not done with budgetary funds, like everything we do.

— Is one full-scale site “Old Moscow” enough for you? She is recognizable in many paintings…

“She fits in well and is constantly being filmed and is included in the route of excursions that are held at Mosfilm.” This is Moscow, and it’s great that people recognize it. We do not have free territory for the construction of additional full-scale sites. “Old Moscow” is quite enough for us. Of course, if the need arises, we can build something new. She’s not there yet. Yes, now no one builds such large-scale sets on location. If you need something, everything can be built in pavilions. We now have 17 of them, which is comparable to the largest American studios. There are probably no pavilions like our new ones even in America. They are not built every two years. And since our pavilions are the latest, they are today one of the best in the world, perhaps the best.

— Are they mainly taught by television?

– Yes. We film many series and television programs. And this happens all over the world. Now large studios cannot exist without television. They can be called film and television studios. Of course, large sets are also built for films, but in principle this does not happen very often.

— Which films have a chance to have your brand “Worker and Collective Farm Woman” in the opening frames?

— This could be a film entirely financed by Mosfilm, or a joint project, of which there are quite a few, where we participate with our resources and invest funds. This could be a film made at Mosfilm, but without our financing. Sometimes manufacturers ask for our brand. We look at them and decide how much this or that painting meets our requirements from an artistic point of view. Depending on this, we provide the Mosfilm brand or not.

But in general, there is a completely different system in cinema now. You’ve probably noticed that there are now virtually no big studio brands in American films either. Money for cinema can come from where no one expected. It will be created in the studio. The presence of a brand is determined by whoever finances the project.

— Is there a personnel shortage at Mosfilm?

“We don’t feel it, because we train the personnel ourselves, and, in my opinion, there is no other way.” We have courses – free, by the way. We recently recruited a course for engineers, there is a course for editors, set designers, and props assistants. Speaking globally, there is always a staff shortage. Good specialists are always needed, but since we train them ourselves, we more or less satisfy our demand.

— I didn’t know that Mosfilm was reviving the institution of editing, the need for which is constantly talked about in cinema…

– We’ve been doing this for a long time. We keep some of our course graduates to work for us. After all, no one specially trains editors. Film experts often enter this profession, but they have little understanding of film production and editing. A film editor is still a separate profession. We take people with higher education and train them for five to six months. We invite teachers especially for this purpose. Quite a few editors have graduated from our courses. Some of them later became directors and producers and made films. For example, the well-known Evgeny Nikishov and Valery Fedorovich (“Epidemic”, “Dyatlov Pass”, “Cybervillage”, “Kapelnik”, “Ordinary Woman”). — S.H.). Nikishov worked as an editor at Mosfilm. People grow, and we don’t stop it. Many of those who took our courses work in the cinema, and in a variety of professions.

— Do graduates of your courses find jobs themselves?

— We are not involved in employment. Now no one is employing anyone. We don’t live in the USSR. We take those whom we consider the most capable and necessary for us. The rest get a profession and find employment in cinema themselves.

— Once you survive the anniversary, what next? What plans do you have for the new century?

— For the 100th anniversary, we have a new “Mosfilm”, not at all the same as it was when I came to it. The studio cannot be stagnant, since technologies are constantly changing and need to be improved. Each project requires its own approach. This is creative work. So we will continue. We have a large program of painting restoration. We will continue to develop it. We already have 6 million subscribers from all over the world on YouTube. Huge audience! This has become an important part of our activities. Let’s look at the statistics for the week. Our channel was visited by 16 million, which means there will be about 60 million views in a month.

— The Mosfilm collection is rich in names and films. I tried to determine the ten best films made over the years of the studio’s existence, but this is impossible.

– This is basically difficult to do. You cannot compare the films of different authors – Sergei Eisenstein and Volodya Menshov, Mikhail Kalatozov and Leonid Gaidai. Everyone has their own style. Who is better? You can name the 100 best paintings in every sense and the most popular, but it’s difficult to single out just one, and it’s not necessary. Just as you cannot compare Yesenin with Mayakovsky, since these are completely different poets, or Gogol with Bulgakov – and find out which of them is better. This is quite naive in art. It is clear that this is part of modern information life.

— Does Tarkovsky attract increased interest?

— I can’t say that he is the most watched director. By the way, Tarkovsky is not in the forefront among foreign viewers. But this is not an indicator. The leaders in viewing are war films, if we talk about non-CIS countries. This is an interesting statistic. While comedies are popular in the territory of the former USSR, they are not the most popular among foreign viewers. In foreign countries, mainly war films are in demand.

– Soviet?

— Mostly Soviet, but Russian paintings too.

— Can you compare the time when you started at Mosfilm with the present? When was it more difficult?

— I started working as an assistant director, and was a production director. Now I am a director, and I have completely different functions. Being the director of Mosfilm is generally quite difficult, although I’m used to it. This is a huge enterprise with a lot of tasks and problems that arise every day. This implies a completely different level of responsibility. More difficult in what way? From a censorship point of view?

— Taking into account the general situation and state of mind.

— The mood is always different. If people have a mind, then there will be a mood of this mind. A person always faces some problems. It is impossible to say that it was better then and worse today. I myself have been working in a studio for almost half a century. And if we compare Mosfilm from the point of view of technology and quality, consider it as a production and technical complex, then, of course, today’s Mosfilm cannot be compared with what it was like when I came here in the mid-1970s. This is just a different class of studio, truly world-class. It is not inferior to any other in the world, if not superior.

From the point of view of the creative atmosphere, that time was stronger. Soviet cinema of the mid-70s generated much more interesting artistic ideas than today. But this is not a question for the studio. It was a different time. Today, in my opinion, Russian cinema is not the same generator of ideas as it was in the 1970s. This can be seen even in the masters. When I came to Mosfilm, Gaidai, Ryazanov, Danelia, Tarkovsky, Shepitko, Klimov, Raizman, Alov and Naumov were working there. Frankly speaking, there are no masters of this level in today’s Russian cinema. So much for the difference. And from a production and technical point of view, the current studio is a colossal step forward. And then it was poorly equipped, the equipment was not very good. This is important in cinema. This is the difference. The organization of cinema was completely different. Then it was financed through studios, but now through producers. But all this is my personal perception of time.

– Why is that? Are there fewer talented people now?

– This is a metaphysical question. I can only express my personal opinion. There was an idea in Soviet cinema and society. No matter how you treat her, she was there. Your own idea, your own view of the world. It does not exist in modern Russian society. They talk about this all the time. There is no ideology or ideas. Everything is very fragmented. Such periods happen in the life of a country. We live in a consumer society. Just like in the West. Art in general is not very compatible with consumer society. This can be seen in the West as well. Are there many artistic discoveries in Western cinema these days? In my opinion, no. And they were. In the 70s. And the level of the masters was completely different. This is a philosophical conversation. The situation cannot be changed by orders from above or our wishes. These are some special periods in the history of mankind.

— Nevertheless, you have not lost interest in cinema?

– This is a very interesting matter for me. When I became the director of Mosfilm, it was a huge challenge. In its own way, this is extremely creative and interesting work. Don’t forget that we do not receive funding and built the studio without budgetary funds. There’s a certain adrenaline to it. Few people have ever found themselves in such a situation. It’s difficult, but also interesting, and to a certain extent it’s like making a movie, but on a much larger scale and riskier. I like making movies.

—Have you decided on your next painting yet?

– Not yet. The idea must mature, the idea must come to something that I have not done before. I always start from this. I’m interested in things that I haven’t tried yet. Since I have been working in cinema for a long time and have shot more than 20 films, it is becoming more and more difficult to find something new.