Mosfilm (, Mosfil’m, initialism and portmanteau of Moscow Films) is a film studio in Moscow which is among the largest and oldest in the Russian Federation and in Europe. Founded in 1924 in the USSR as a production unit of that nation's film monopoly, its output includes most of the more widely acclaimed Soviet-era films, ranging from works by Andrei Tarkovsky and Sergei Eisenstein, to Red Westerns, to the Akira Kurosawa co-production Dersu Uzala (Дерсу Узала) and War and Peace (Война и мир).

History

The Moscow film production company with studio facilities was established in November 1920 by the motion picture mogul Aleksandr Khanzhonkov ("first film factory") and I. Ermolev ("third film factory") as a unit of Goskino, the USSR's film monopoly. The first movie filmed by Mosfilm was On the Wings Skyward (directed by Boris Mikhin). In 1927, the construction of a new film studio complex began on Potylikha Street (renamed to Mosfilmovskaya Street in 1939) in Sparrow Hills of Moscow. This film studio was named after the Moscow amalgamated factory Soyuzkino "Tenth Anniversary of October Revolution". In 1934, the film studio was renamed to Moskinokombinat, and in 1936 was relaunched under the Mosfilm name, the name it carries till today. 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 Mosfilm intro, representing the monument "Worker and Kolkhoz Woman" by Vera Mukhina and Spasskaya Tower of the Kremlin, was introduced in 1947 in the musical comedy Springtime directed by Grigori Aleksandrov and starring Lyubov Orlova and Nikolai Cherkasov. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Mosfilm had produced more than 3,000 films, some of them being granted awards at international film festivals. It 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" included a view of Mosfilm's enormous depot with 170 tanks and 50 vintage cars. According to Mosfilm chairman Shakhnazarov the studio handed over to the Russian Armed Forces in 2023 28 T-55 tanks, 8 PT-76 tanks, 6 infantry fighting vehicles and 8 tow trucks. The biggest sound stage is leased annually to hold the Golden Eagle Awards. In 2011, Mosfilm released a selection of its classic films online for free viewing.

Selected films