Published on: 2026-04-02
Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –
An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
In 2025, the Moscow Film Commission received over 3,800 applications for organizing filming in the city. Among the projects implemented are more than 20 films addressing the themes of historical memory, military duty, and national identity. Behind these numbers is a large-scale support system and the functional work of a large team. “Culture of Moscow” tells about the work of the Moscow Film Commission through the example of five prominent projects from recent years.
Cinema as urban infrastructure
The Moscow Film Commission, established in 2018 by order of the Mayor of Moscow, is now part of a full-fledged cluster that includes a film park.“Moskino”, a film studio and a digital platform for accepting applications. The system operates as a single entity: producers submit applications online, the film commission takes responsibility for coordinating with city authorities, and the shooting process unfolds without conflict, in harmony with the rhythm of the metropolis.
Over seven years, the Moscow film commission “Moskino” has helped organize about 10 thousand shoots on city locations. Thanks to it, more than 2,600 projects of various scales have been created. Since September 2023, the application process has been fully transferred to the “Moskino” film platform. This means that a director of a student short film and a producer of a multi-series blockbuster share one and the same procedure for approval.
But the digital platform “Moskino” went beyond the simple acceptance of applications. Today it combines in one window the selection and booking of about 700 venues — from film studio pavilions to historical sites and city parks, and also provides access to a database of requisites containing 60 thousand names.
In addition to organizational support, the city has also built financial support. Since 2020, the Moscow government awards grants to filmmakers whose films create a recognizable image of the city. All this makes Moscow a true cinematographic capital — an ideological inspirer, creator, and de facto star of projects simultaneously.
“The Moscow film cluster creates all the necessary opportunities for implementing film projects. This includes the creation of filming infrastructure in the Moskin film park and at the film factory, as well as the development of special services such as coordination and organization of filming on street-road networks. Moreover, the Moscow Government supports film producers with grants. In particular, last year, support measures became available for creators of children’s content and projects promoting the traditional spiritual and moral values of the country,” notes Georgy Prokopov, General Director of ANO “Moskin”.
Along with organizational support, the film commission provides scouting and location selection, arranges shooting on streets and roads, grants access to infrastructure facilities, and supports both static and dynamic scenes, including stunts, transportation, and extras. All this is done without disrupting the city’s rhythm, with maximum coordination with all Moscow services, so that filming is comfortable not only for its creators but also for the residents of the capital.
“Empire” in the park decoration
The flagship historical project of 2025 became the series “Empire” — a multi-part epic created on order from the First Channel. It represents a large-scale portrait of the country in historical development, illustrating politics, everyday life, economy, transport features, and culture of the Russian Empire. The ninth and tenth parts — “Empire: Alexander III” and “Empire: Nicholas II” — were filmed in the “Moskino” film park.
Three real locations were used for filming: “Center of Moscow,” “Vitebsky Station,” and “Far Eastern Town.” The lobby of the railway station with dark brickwork “passing” in Saratov — here, according to the plot, Pyotr Stolypin delivers a speech, warning society against riots. The hall with ticket offices turned into a courthouse building. “Far Eastern Town” took on a scene-frieze: a fair with folk festivities of the era and Alexander III.
But the most difficult turned out to be the last scenes of the series — the finale, filmed on the set “Far Eastern City”: the office of Nicholas II in the governor’s house in Mogilev, a tea party of the Romanovs in Tobolsk, where the tsar is photographed with his family for the last time before the execution.
These shots became the brightest moment in the theme park, as told to the press service of the film company that created the series. The scenes were complex and emotional, and from the point of view of film production. And it was necessary to live through it together with the entire film crew. The visual solution for the shooting scene was not simple, so many takes were done. It would be impossible to refine the episode in editing — everything had to be shot from a single take.
Thanks to the work of the Moscow Cinema Commission, all the ambitious ideas of the team were brought to life, allowing the creators to focus on the creative part of the project and present the audience with a vivid documentary canvas.
“Not included in the list”: 150 tons of bricks for the Brest fortress
One of the most resonant projects of 2025 became the film “Not on the List” — an adaptation of Boris Vasilyev’s novella about Lieutenant Nikolae Pluzhnikov, who found himself in the Brest Fortress during the first hours of the war. The premiere, timed to the 80th anniversary of Victory, took place on May 1, 2025. The main roles were played by Vladimir Mashkov, who also served as the film’s producer, Vladislav Miller, Alena Morilova, Pavel Chernyshov, Yana Sekste, and young actors.Moscow Theatre of Oleg Tabakov.
The central production decision was the construction of a 42,000 square meter life-size set in the Moskinopark — an exact copy of the key triangle of the Brest Fortress (the Kostel of Saint Casimir, the barracks of the 333rd Rifle Regiment, and the Terespol Gate). The set was erected in just two months on a sturdy metal frame with reinforced walls and ceilings. For filming, 150 tons of bricks were brought in.
“When we discussed where to shoot the film, we considered many options, but we realized that we needed to build a unique site that would scrupulously replicate the citadel of the Brest Fortress. Of course, we filmed in historical locations, but there is already a museum there and it was not possible to shoot as we managed to do at the Moskino film park. Most of what we did in this project are real explosions, real destructions,” noted director Sergey Korotaev.
Set designers recreated the interior of the St. Casimir Cathedral, which before the war served as an army club, based on rare photographs from 1941, taken by German soldiers. Meanwhile, the filming crew worked in the Moscow region, as well as in Belarus. “At the ‘Moskino’ film park, a major area was allocated for the construction of natural sets — previously, decorations were erected quite differently. I like the fact that future film viewers can come to the film park and see the backstage of the cinema.””This increases interest in our work, because the viewer, observing the production cube, comprehends something for themselves, discovers something,” added artist-director Eduard Galkin.
“Baltic Sea”: War and Espionage in a Historic Location
The action of the film “Baltic Sea”, filmed for the TV channel “Russia”, unfolds in 1944. In the Baltic Sea, a Soviet naval officer sinks the German submarine U-250. On board are three of the newest acoustic T-5 torpedoes (“Zaunkönig”), capable of changing the balance of power in the Atlantic. A group of German saboteurs begins a secret operation in Leningrad and Kronstadt to destroy captured weapons. Soviet intelligence officers have to not only neutralize the enemies but also identify the traitor within their own ranks.
Filming began in the urban space — an old mansion on Pokrovsky Boulevard, in the Teleshov house, which is more than 200 years old. Several scenes were shot in the sets of the film park “Moscow 1940-s”, “Center of Moscow” and “Shashky”.
“Breed”: 32 buildings of Donetsk from the past century
The historical series “Poroda”, produced by Sergey Zhigunov, demanded the creation of one of the largest sets in the history of film parks. On the “Yuzovka” site, an area of about 20,000 square meters, 32 constructions of Donetsk at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries were recreated: streets with wooden houses, wells, pre-revolutionary buildings, a library, a hospital, a tavern, and shops.
On the buildings — characteristic signs, at the houses — carts and stalls, the roads are illuminated by street lamps of that era. Nearby, on the “Shashty” site, elevator sheds, a stable, and workers’ changing rooms were erected.
“The 1950s houses we were able to find in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, where we also filmed, had to be built pre-revolutionary. They helped us both with filming scenes involving collapses and landslides. In Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, no one dared to lower an actor down an elevator shaft 900 meters deep to collapse coal. But here we handled it perfectly. We have technological hatches, we brought anthracite coal into our houses, black foam plastic is pouring onto the actors, there’s dust — everything looks very realistic,” Sergey Zhigunov said.
“1812. About the emperor”: the rescue of the Kremlin
Among other patriotic projects produced with the support of the Moscow Cinema Commission is the film “1812. The Emperor’s Order” about the saving of the Kremlin during the war with Napoleon. For the project, a full-scale set called “Cathedral Square” was specially built in the film park, reproducing the cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin. It was here that several climactic scenes were shot: how in 1812, on Napoleon’s orders, the French mined the Kremlin during their retreat and how it was later saved from destruction.
“Filming in the theme park was remembered for a very large number of stunts, a lot of work with stuntmen, pyrotechnicians, and extras. In one scene, 300 extras participated: and everyone had to be dressed, styled, and explained what to do, but we managed,” shared director Alexey Pimanov.
More than 20 patriotic projects to be filmed in 2025 — different epochs, different studios, different stories. The Romanovs and the Brest Fortress, besieged Leningrad and pre-revolutionary Donetsk, the Patriotic War of 1812 and events of the last decade. All this became possible not only because the directors had something to say, but also because the city built an environment in which it is convenient to speak. Locations, infrastructure, coordination, grants allow viewers to see on screen a story that otherwise simply would not have been filmed.
You can see the filming process from the inside at the Moskino film park. A special program is held there on Saturdays and Sundays.“Movie free days”, which will be interesting for the whole family.
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