Here directors and producers will shoot national films and television series outdoors. They also plan to bring tourists here eager to know how the magical world of cinema was born.
In the countryside
Six months ago, here, 27 km from the Moscow Ring Road, there was a vacant lot, and now a cinema park with an area of 184 hectares is emerging, which will later grow another one and a half times. Set design workshops and a film warehouse have already been opened here. Guests are greeted by a futuristic tent, which here is called “Donut”: in it, an interactive screen shows the filming locations that are ready to receive the “caravans”: the filmmakers arrive at the filming with trucks full of props, buses with extras, decorators, makeup artists and other personnel. They are even building a hotel in the park for VIPs, especially well-known artists and directors.
And the first scenario, as close as possible to the originals, already exists. An alley leads to them that winds towards different corners of the film park; During the inspection you can easily cover a dozen kilometers.
“In order for us to navigate here, we are building neighborhoods that we call blocks. There are 22 in total. Each one has a serial number and a name,” production designer Maria Turskaya shared with RG. “There is, for example, a hospital, Kremlin buildings, a square with the Bolshoi Theater.” An old tram purchased from a private collector will even travel the streets during several scenes. The film crew has already tried the first location: the city square.”
Extras were invited to the rehearsal: on the street, in the landscape of 1940s Moscow, an orchestra plays a waltz, Muscovites dance, children have fun, couples in love kiss… Bread is sold in a truck, the “bricks” are fresh, with a still crispy crust, and next to it is an aunt in an apron selling ice cream from a Soviet cart. Everything is real, not fake.
And in one of the places right now there are real tanks circulating! Our armored vehicles crush the stones of the Reichstag before the cameras of all-seeing operators. The film, which is already being filmed here, depicts the final days of the war. Naturally, in the context of the Reichstag. The entire building will not be captured in the frame, so only its lower levels were recreated. The decorations are solid, not cardboard! Stones, wood, metal are used… Under the wheels of armored vehicles, the remains of the Reichstag quickly turn into flakes of white crumbs… Ours will win, but the complex itself, like everything that is built here , will be left for others. filming equipment.
Meanwhile, walking through the park, you can go from one era to another. The Reichstag still stands, but literally in front of it is the main attribute of post-war Germany, the wall between the GDR and the Federal Republic of Germany. Naturally, there are also the streets of Berlin, here you can shoot any film that requires “slices” of European cities. If you shoot outdoors, you will have to spend money on travel and place the “caravan” somewhere. And getting permission from the authorities to block streets is not so easy. But take pictures here, I don’t want to!
The film, which is already being filmed here, depicts the final days of the war.
A truly modern aircraft is being assembled a stone’s throw from the Soviet era. The plane rises above the chromakey backdrop, a special canvas on which filmmakers can place any background. It is possible to film both a scene of a peaceful meeting and some episode of a disaster movie… Then the road passes by a picturesque pond, here we meet Russian peasants, the “residents” of the cinema village. But before we get there, we will definitely take a look at a small town near Moscow in the 1940s. Narrow streets, private houses, a central square with a sculpture of a pioneer bugle. But next to it there are anti-tank hedgehogs… The headquarters building opposite is riddled with bullets; according to the script of the future film, he passed from the Nazis to the Red Army several times.
Nearby are the attributes of peaceful life. Here, let’s say, a cafe-bar with a fragment of a city street, recognizable places of Moscow from different historical eras, emblematic places of Vladivostok of the late 19th and early 20th centuries with the Millionka quarter, the fishing port and a specially excavated channel. and even the Cathedral Square of the Moscow Kremlin. A few meters from here the atmosphere of pre-war Moscow is recreated: in October, director Nikita Grammatikov will shoot a fast-paced eight-episode film about the first days of the Great Patriotic War. The premiere, according to Denis Baranov, lead producer of the Third Rome studio, is planned for autumn 2024. Meanwhile, a whole city is growing here. Real construction companies work here!
Cinema for everyone
The film park will have its own railway station with a depot and an airport with a civil aircraft. To film, of course. In the forest there is a partisan village with houses, baths and toilets. One of the decorations, a serpentine mountain, appeared purely by chance, it was not in the original project. It’s just that after creating one of the zones, piles of dirt formed with nowhere to go. We decided to make a winding road for filming in mountainous areas: the road can be covered with sand, crushed stone or asphalt, depending on the director’s needs. Currently, teams of excavators are working on creating the serpentine.
These locations will be accompanied by hotel complexes, offices, concert halls and festivals. According to preliminary estimates, the cinema park will help increase the number of film shoots in Moscow and the income of the film industry by 20%. Experts believe that Western sanctions should serve as an additional incentive for the revival of Russian cinema.
During free time from filming, the park will be open to all film fans. Excursions and historical reconstructions are planned here. There will also be an amusement park “Secret City”, the idea of which was suggested by the works of science fiction writer Vadim Panov. Now there is a similar attraction in the Moscow region – this is the film city “Pilgrim Porto”. It is small, but very popular among tourists who come to take a walk and take spectacular photographs in photogenic movie landscapes. Photos from there regularly appear on the social networks of my friends and acquaintances.
Group for three
Moscow remains the largest center of the national film industry, where 10,000 companies operate and 90% of Russian films and television series are created. At the same time, filmmakers loudly note the shortage of high-quality infrastructure: film sets, studios, equipment. Many filming sessions usually take place in quickly converted hangars and good locations must be booked several months in advance. Therefore, a whole film group will be formed in Moscow, and the Krasnaya Pakhra park is only a small part of it. In particular, the All-Russian Research and Design Institute of Metallurgical Engineering (VNIIMETMASH) on Ryazansky Prospect will be reorganized and an infrastructure for full-cycle film production will be created. Ten buildings will be reconstructed first. In particular, a Materials and Design Center for the Fashion Industry, a film museum, a film school, a café and a Media Art Center will open there, which will include exhibition spaces, exhibition halls, studios, coworking spaces and a media gallery. The “Firebird” Costume and Props House will also be inaugurated. A year later, in the fall of 2024, four more buildings will be reconstructed. In the period 2024-2026, it is planned to equip six cinema pavilions, including a swimming pool for underwater filming. An innovative Development Center for the film industry, a Center for Visual Technologies and a Resource Center for the film industry will also be opened here. The territory of the METMASH cluster will be open and will become a new point on the map of Moscow public spaces. Here there will be cafes, shops and a sports center. There will also be excursions here.
The film park will have its own train station with a depot and an airport with a civil aircraft. To film, of course. And in the forest there is a partisan village with houses, a bathhouse and a bath.
The third participant in the group will be the Gorky Film Studio, one of the oldest in the country. It was she who at one time created “The Dawns Here Are Quiet”, “Seventeen Moments of Spring”, “Quiet Don”, “Officers”, “Three Poplars on Plyushchikha”, “Morozko” and other famous films. Now the studio is experiencing a renaissance.
For a long time he produced almost nothing; The main building and the study complex were in a state of emergency and pre-emergency. Today there are 12 feature film projects and 16 non-fiction film projects in production. The Gorky Film Campus is open to young film buffs, students of specialized educational organizations and specialists. There they carry out educational projects, organize film expeditions to Russian cities and other countries.
Many film park facilities are still under construction. The goal is to make everything as comfortable as possible for the film crews. Each enclosure will have parking for caravans and electrical cabinets where equipment can be connected. Each location has its own production center. The Kremlin Cathedral Square is currently under active construction, recreating every detail, down to the smallest windows. In a small area next to the forest there was a partisan village. Many of the structures are already ready, but individual camouflage elements still need to be added. After all, those forest villages also had to be hidden, otherwise they could be seen from the air. Popular locations for filming will also be a real airport terminal and an exact copy of the Vitebsk railway station. Once all this is ready, Krasnaya Pakhra park will become not only a film center, but also a tourist center. Experts expect that many will be interested in seeing various locations from their favorite movies.
By the way
The first films to be shot at the Moskino film park:
– The series “And in our yard – 3” (directed by Olga Muzaleva);
– TV series “Admiral Kuznetsov” (director Sergei Vinogradov);
– TV series “GDR” (director Sergei Popov);
– Film “War and Music” (directed by Sarik Andreasyan);
– The film “The Last” (directed by Viktor Ryzhakov).
Direct speech
Evgeny Mironov, theater and film actor:
– It is gratifying that the film park has a variety of historical places, including the Moscow landscape of both the times of Peter the Great and the pre-war years, which is often used in our cinema. There is also the possibility of quiet accommodation, even for technical staff. In fact, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, many film professions were lost. The most important ones, to which the public sometimes does not pay attention, are the sound engineers and the props. Here there is an opportunity to revive the school of technical workers who create cinema and do it at a modern level.
Konstantin Ernst, CEO of Channel One:
– In the 20th century, the Soviet Union was on the shortlist of great cinematographic powers. After 1991 we lost this place for some time. But now what we see in the cinema park speaks of Russia’s return to this list.
Igor Ugolnikov, film producer:
– You can build beautiful decorations, but place them incorrectly. The cinema park takes into account all the nuances. Before we considered ourselves magicians, we still work miracles, we try to do it in the movies, but thanks to what has been done here I now believe that we are not magicians, but rather those who create it.
Meanwhile
To allow filmmakers to work not only in specialized sites, but also throughout the city, the Moscow Digital Cinema Platform was created. It is designed to simplify the coordination of filming in the city: renting sound stages, studios, costumes, props and equipment, as well as organizing filming on location, should be as easy as booking a hotel room.
Infographic “RG” / Alexander Chistov / Sergey Bulanov
