Cinématographe

Cinématographe (“cinema” is derived from this name) triumphantly marched around the world.

In 1896 Lumière brothers introduced the brilliant invention to the Russian public in St. Petersburg and Moscow and later in Nizhniy Novgorod.

And some years later in 1898 the first Russian films were produced. Since that time the Russian film industry was going its own way.

In the late 19th and early 20th century, short films, which were shot in Russia were mainly  about the life of the royal family.

 A little later Russia's great achievement in cinema was connected with its directors such as Eisenstein (The battleship “Potemkin”), Pudovkin (Mother), Kuleshov (By the law), Dovzhenko (Earth), and others.

Notable films from 1940s include Aleksandr Nevsky and Ivan the Terrible. Immediately after the end of the Second World War, the Soviet color films such as The Stone Flower (1947), Ballad of Siberia (Сказание о земле Сибирской, 1947), and The Kuban Cossacks (Кубанские казаки, 1949) were released.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s Soviet film-makers were given a less constricted environment, and while censorship remained, films emerged which began to be recognised outside the Soviet bloc such as Ballad of a Soldier which won the 1961 Award for Best Film and The Cranes Are Flying. Height (Высота, 1957) is considered to be one of the best films of the 1950s.

In 1970s a range of films won international attention, including Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris; Seventeen Instants of Spring, which created the immortal character of Standartenführer Stirlitz; White Sun of the Desert (1970).

Now film industry in Russia is rapidly developing. More than 20 films are produced every year. Great directors such as Nikita Mikhalkov, Andron Konchalovskiy, Timur Bikmambetov and many others contribute to this process.