The Russian Culture Ministry plans to revive the Yalta Film Studio, one of the oldest studios in the former Soviet Union. The ministry previously announced plans to create local film festivals in Crimea as part of their plan to develop local cultural institutions.
"With the participation of the Russian government, a plan will be formulated to revive the famous studio," Crimean Tourism Minister Yelena Yurchenko said in reference to the Yalta Film Studio. "We are glad that the Russian authorities are paying attention to the key objects on our peninsula, including cultural sites, and are not standing on the sidelines."
The Yalta Film Studio was founded in 1917 by the Russian film company Khanzhonkov and Co., the same company that established Mosfilm in 1923. In 1919, the studio was nationalized and reformed as Yalta Film Factory, which it remained until the collapse of the Soviet Union.
During the Soviet period, numerous films were created at the Yalta studio, yet the company fell on hard times after the creation of an independent Ukraine and has largely ceased activity.
Apart from plans to revive the studio, the Culture Ministry said it would hold film festivals in Yalta and Gurzuf. Vladimir Malyshev, rector of the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, has also offered to create a branch of the institute in Crimea.
Apart from developing film in Crimea, the Culture Ministry is also working on a series of films about the peninsula — "The Battle for Sevastopol" is currently in postproduction, and a series of documentary films are also in the works, Itar-Tass reported.
