Lenfilm

Kinostudiya "Lenfilm" (Russian: Киностудия Ленфильм) is a production unit of the Russian film industry, with its own film studio, located in Saint Petersburg, Russia, formerly Leningrad, R.S.F.S.R. Today OAO "Kinostudiya Lenfilm" is a corporation with its stakes shared between private owners, and several private film studios, which are operating on the premises. Since October 2012, the Chairman of the board of directors is Fyodor Bondarchuk.

History

Before Lenfilm

St. Petersburg was home to several Russian and French film studios since the early 1900s. In 1908 the St. Petersburg businessman Vladislav Karpinsky opened his film factory "Ominum Film" which produced documentaries and feature films for local theatres. During the 1910s, one of the most active private film studios was "Neptun" in St. Petersburg, where such figures as Vladimir Mayakovsky and Lily Brik made their first silent films, released in 1917 and 1918.

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 on the same site. The composer Peter Tchaikovsky came to what was then the Aquarium theatre (and is now Stage # 4 of Lenfilm) as a guest to the 1893 performance of the overture to his The Nutcracker ballet. Famous Russian bass singer Feodor Chaliapin performed here in the 1910s and the early 1920s. Stars of the Soviet era also gave performances here, such as Isaak Dunaevsky, and Leonid Utyosov with his jazz-band during the 1920s and 1930s.