Gorky Film Studio reveals the secrets of movie making

Many movies made at the Gorky Film Studio are classics of Soviet, Russian and world cinema. Movies like 'Seventeen Moments of Spring', 'Carnival', 'The Dawns Here Are Quiet', 'White Bim Black Ear', 'Guest from the Future', 'Brother' and many others are widely known both in Russia and internationally.

This year, one of Russia's oldest film studios, founded in 1915, is opening a museum in its main building on Sergei Eisenstein Street. Part of it is already open to the public - there, you can learn about the different stages of film production, take a detailed look at sets, props and costumes or even have a go at being a lighting technician or make-up artist.

We visited the museum's first exhibition, 'Off Screen: Sights to Behold'. "Our exhibition is about the people who work off camera, the specialized film professionals who only feature in the credits and are generally little known," the studio told us. The fact is, hundreds of people are employed on a film set.

In the museum, the visitor becomes a participant in different stages of film production: screenplay discussions, storyboards, screen tests, the making of the sets and light and sound work.

All the details of the exhibition space appear very familiar. Sheets from the script of the movie 'End of Operation Resident' (1986), which was made there, literally hover above a table where the production crew meet.

On one wall, you can see scenes from 'Seventeen Moments of Spring' (1973) and, on a screen, you can "flip through" an album of actors' screen tests.

On another is a storyboard for the new movie 'Nuremberg' (2023). You’ll also see the original sets for the thriller 'Kukolnik' ('The Puppeteer', 2023) and authentic costumes from the movies 'The Youth of Peter the Great' (1980) and 'After the Rain, on Thursday' (1986).

Meanwhile, it’s impossible to imagine modern cinema without computer graphics. One of the displays shows how virtual shots are ultimately converted into "real" footage. The bulk of the film studio museum is set to open in Summer 2024.

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