Source: MIL-OSI Translation:
Source: Moscow Government – Government of Moscow –
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In 2025, the Moscow Film Commission received over 3,800 applications for organizing shoots in the city. Among the completed projects 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 dedicated work of a large team. “Culture of Moscow” talks about the work of the Moscow Film Commission through the example of five prominent projects from recent years.
Cinema as urban infrastructure
Established in 2018 by order of the Mayor of Moscow, the Moscow Film Commission is today part of a full-fledged cluster, which includes a film parkMoschino, a film studio and a digital platform for applications submission. The system operates as a single entity: producers submit applications online, the film commission takes responsibility for coordinating with city departments, and the filming process unfolds without conflict with the rhythm of the metropolis.
Over seven years, the Moscow film commission “Moskino” helped organize about 10 thousand shoots on urban locations. Thanks to it, more than 2.6 thousand projects of various scales were created. Since September 2023, the application process has been fully transferred to the “Moskino” film platform. This means that the director of a student short film and the producer of a multi-series blockbuster are open to the same — with identical procedures for approval.
But the digital platform “Moskino” has gone beyond a simple application acceptance. Today it combines the selection and booking of about 700 venues in one window — from film studio pavilions to historical sites and city parks, and also provides access to a database of requisites with 60 thousand names.
In addition to organizational support, the city has built financial support as well. Since 2020, the Moscow government grants film producers whose films create a recognizable image of the city. All this makes Moscow a real cinematographic capital — an ideological inspirer, creator, and virtually a star of projects simultaneously.
“The Moscow film cluster creates all the unique opportunities for the implementation of film projects. This includes the creation of filming infrastructure in the ‘Moskino’ film park and at the film factory, as well as the development of special services, such as coordination and organization of filming on the street-road network. Moreover, the Moscow Government supports filmmakers with grants. In particular, last year, support measures became available for creators of children’s content and projects promoting the country’s traditional spiritual and moral values,” notes Georgy Prokopov, General Director of ANO “Moskino.”
Along with organizational support, the film commission provides scouting and location selection, arranges street and road shootings, grants access to infrastructure facilities, and accompanies both static and dynamic scenes, including those with stunts, transportation, and extras. All of this is done without disrupting the city’s rhythm, with maximum coordination with all Moscow services to ensure that filming is comfortable not only for the filmmakers but also for the residents of the capital.
“Empire” as park decoration
The flagship of 2025 among historical projects became the series “Empire” — a multi-episode epic created by order of Channel One. It presents a large-scale portrait of the country in historical development, illustrating politics, everyday life, economy, transport features, and the culture of the Russian Empire. The ninth and tenth parts — “Empire: Alexander III” and “Empire: Nicholas II” — were filmed at the “Moskino” cinema park.
Three real locations were used for filming: “Center of Moscow”, “Vitebsky Station”, and “Far Eastern City”. The railway station lobby with dark brickwork “transfer” in Saratov — here, according to the plot, Pyotr Stolypin delivers a speech, warning society against rebellion. The hall with ticket offices turned into a courtroom. “Far Eastern City” hosted the scene-frieze: a fair with folk festivities of the era of Alexander III.
But the most difficult were the final scenes of the series — the finale, filmed in the set of “Far Eastern Town”: the office of Nicholas II in the governor’s house in Mogilev, the Romanovs’ tea party in Tobolsk, where the tsar photographed his family for the last time before the execution.
These shots became the brightest moment in the cinema park, the press service of the film company that created the series said. The scenes were complex and emotional, as well as from the filmmaking perspective. And it was necessary to experience it with the entire film crew. The visual solution of the scene of the shooting was not simple, so many takes were done. It would have been impossible to finalize the episode in editing — everything had to be shot from one frame.
Thanks to the work of the Moscow Film 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 was the film “Did Not Make the List” — an adaptation of Boris Vasilyev’s novella about Lieutenant Nikolai Pluzhnikov, who found himself in the Brest Fortress in the first hours of the war. The premiere, timed to coincide with the 80th anniversary of Victory, took place on May 1, 2025. The main roles were played by Vladimir Mashkov, who also served as a producer of the film, Vladislav Miller, Alena Morilova, Pavel Chernyshov, Yana Sekste, and young actors.Moscow Theater of Oleg Tabakov.
The central production decision was the construction in the “Moskino” film park of a life-size set covering 42 thousand square meters — an exact replica of the key triangle of the Brest Fortress (the Church of St. Casimir, the barracks of the 333rd rifle regiment, and the Terespol gates). 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 then realized that it was necessary to build a unique set that would meticulously replicate the citadel of the Brest Fortress. Of course, we filmed in historical locations, but there’s already a museum there, and it’s not possible to shoot the way we managed to do it in the ‘Moskino’ film park. Most of what we created in this project are real explosions, real destructions,” noted director Sergey Korotaev.
The production designers recreated the interior of St. Casimir’s Cathedral, which before the war served as an army club, judging by rare photographs from 1941 taken by German soldiers. Meanwhile, the filming crew worked in the Moscow region as well as in Belarus. “In the Moskino film park, a major overhaul is underway to build outdoor sets — previously, decorations were built quite differently. I like that future film audiences will be able to come to the film park and see the behind-the-scenes of cinema.””This increases interest in our work, because the viewer, watching the production cube, grasps something for themselves, discovers it,” said director-artist Eduard Galkin.
“Baltic Sea”: war and espionage in a historical location
The action of the film “Baltic Sea,” shot 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 the trophy weapons. Soviet intelligence officers must not only neutralize the enemies but also identify the traitor within their own ranks.
Filming began in the urban environment — in an old mansion on Pokrovsky Boulevard, in the Telyeshov house, which is over 200 years old. Several scenes were shot in the sets of the film park “Moscow 1940-s”, “Center of Moscow” and “Shashkty”.
“Breed”: 32 buildings of Donetsk from the past century
The historical series “Breed,” produced by Sergey Zhigunov, required the creation of one of the largest sets in the history of film studios. On the “Yuzovka” set, an area of about 20 thousand square meters was recreated with 32 constructions of Donetsk from the turn of the 19th–20th centuries: 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 the lanterns of that era. Nearby, at the “Shashti” site, elevator shashti, a stable, and workers’ changing rooms were erected.
“In the 1950s, we managed to find in Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, where we also filmed, but we had to build the pre-revolutionary shafts. They helped us in shooting scenes with collapses and cave-ins. In Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, no one would have dared to lower an actor into a 900 meter deep shaft to cover it with coal. But we did perfectly here. We have technological hatches, we’ve brought anthracite into our shafts; actors are covered with black foam plastic, dust flies — everything looks very natural,” said Sergey Zhigunov.
“1812. About the oath to the emperor”: the salvation 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 natural set called “Cathedral Square” was specially built in the cinema park, reproducing the cathedrals of the Moscow Kremlin. It was here that several climactic scenes were shot: how the French, under Napoleon’s order in 1812, mined the Kremlin while retreating, and how they were later saved from destruction.
“The filming in the theme park was remembered for a very large number of stunts, a lot of work with stuntmen, pyrotechnicians, extras. There were 300 extras involved in one scene: they all had to be dressed, groomed, and explained what to do, but we managed,” shared director Alexey Pimanov.
More than 20 patriotic projects 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. Sites, infrastructure, coordination, and 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. On Saturdays and Sundays, there is a special program held there.“The Cinema Ones”, which will be interesting for the whole family.
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