Cinema of Moldova

The first motion pictures shot on the territory of Moldova were front-line newsreels and were made in 1918 - 1919 . Later they were edited into the documentary “The Red Army Entered Bessarabia” (“On the Bessarabian Front”) ( 1919 ), allegedly shot by cameraman G. Drobin ^[1] .

The film created for the 10th anniversary of the October Revolution, “Documents of the Epoch” ( 1927 ), includes shots taken on the territory of Moldova ^[2] . Since January 1928, the periodic film magazine Kіnonedіlya has been published at the State College of Cinematography of VUFKU in Odessa . In the special section “In the AMSRU ” of this newsreel, it tells directly about Moldova. The first plot, which was shot by a student film group, was “A protest rally:“ Remember Bessarabia! ””, Held in Odessa in January 1928 in connection with the decade of Bessarabia's accession to Romania . In the same issue, another story was mounted: “In Soviet Bessarabia - AMSSR, workers are building a new life” ^{[1] [2]} . In the same 1928, the full-length documentary film “Bessarabian Agricultural Commune” was released, which was shot by a graduate of the Odessa Film School G. Alexandrov. The film tells about Bessarabian communards, demobilized from the cavalry corps of Grigory Kotovsky and founded an agricultural commune on the left bank of the Dniester in 1924 ^[1] .

In the early 30s , feature films on Moldavian themes were released at the Odessa Film Studio : “ Everything is calm ” ( Karl Tomsky , 1930 ) and “ Uniri Holiday ” ( Pavel Dolina , 1932 ). In 1930, the Moldavian department of Ukrainfilm was created, in 1934 the Moldkinofototrest, and in 1936 , the Kinofikatsiya Directorate under the SNK MASSR ^[1] .

In 1940, after the accession of Bessarabia to the USSR , the documentary "On the Danube" was shot. In the first months of World War II and in 1944 , when Moldova was liberated, events on the territory of the republic were filmed by many front-line cameramen. Some of these shootings were included in the picture “Victory in the South”, which tells about the Iasi-Chisinau operation , the other part in separate issues of newsreels and special issues ^[1] .

On the basis of the Kiev Newsreel Studio (1945–1947) and the Black Sea Film Factory in Odessa (1948–1952), the film magazines Moldova Sovetike and full-length film yearbooks Sovetskaya Moldavia ( 1948 , 1950 , 1951 ), Equal Among Equals were published "( 1949 ) ^[1] .

50s

In November 1950, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (b) of Moldova Leonid Brezhnev sent a letter to the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) with a request to create a newsreel studio in Chisinau . On April 26, 1952, the Minister of Cinematography of the USSR, Ivan Bolshakov, signed an order on the formation in Chisinau of a film studio for documentary films ^[1] .

Cinema essays appeared: “Codrii” ( 1953 ), “Monuments of Military Glory” ( 1955 ), etc. In the mid -50s , films about the life of Moldova were made at the studios of other republics: “ Andries ” ( Yakov Bazelyan and Sergey Parajanov , 1954 ), “ Liana ”( Boris Barnet , 1955). Moldovan filmmakers took part in the filming. In 1955, the first feature film of Moldova - " Moldavian Chants " ( Alexei Zolotnitsky ) was staged at the Chisinau Studio. In 1957, the Chisinau Studio of Chronicle-Documentary Films was reorganized into the film studio of feature and chronicle-documentary films “ Moldova-Film ” ^[2] .

60s

In 1961, one of the first “poetic films” of the “ Khrushchev thaw ” period appeared on the film studio - “ A man follows the sun ” ( Mikhail Kalik ) ^{[3] [4]} .

In 1962, the Union of Cinematographers of the Moldavian SSR was created ^[2] .

In the 60s , historical and revolutionary themes were strong in Moldavian cinema: “ The Last Month of Autumn ” ( Vadim Derbenev , 1965 ), “ Marianna ” ( Vasily Pascaru , 1967 ), “ Sergey Lazo ” ( Alexander Gordon , 1967). Films on the theme of modernity: “ Accused of murder ” ( Boris Volchek , 1969 ), “ Ten winters in one summer ” ( Valeriu Gagiu , 1969) ^[2] .

On the screens in 1968, a heavily edited version of the film " To Love ... " (Mikhail Kalik) was released.

70s - 80s

There are many films on a patriotic theme: “ Risk ” ( Vasily Paskaru , 1970 ), “ Red Blizzard ” (Vasily Paskaru, 1971 ), “ Lautaras ” ( Emil Lotyanu , 1971), “ Red Sun ” (Vasily Paskaru, 1972 ), “ Bridges ”(Vasily Pascaru),“ The Last Hajduk ”( Valeriu Gajiu , 1972),“ Notches for memory ”( Nikolai Gibu and Mikhail Izrailev , 1973 ),“ Dmitry Kantemir ”( Vladimir Iovitse and Vitaliy Kalashnikov , 1973) ^[2] .

Films on the topic of modernity: “ The Saved Name ” ( Vitaly Dyomin and Dmitry Motorny , 1972), “ House for the Seraphim ” ( Jacob Burgiu , 1973) ^[2] .

Notable films of the 80s : “ Where are you, love? ”(Valeriu Gajiu, 1980 ),“ Woman in White ”( Vadim Derbenev , 1981 ),“ Maria, Mirabela ”( Ion Popescu-Gopo , 1981),“ A Little Favor ”( Boris Konunov , 1984 ),“ The Mysterious Prisoner ”( Valeriu Gagiu, 1986 ).

After the collapse of the USSR, film production of feature films stopped due to lack of funding. The exceptions were the films “Train to California”, “ Tango over the Catcher ”, “Russian Rambo or the Desert”, “Ricochet”, “The Return of the Titanic” and “Male Character, or Tango over the Catcher-2”, shot in co-production with Russia.

In 2010, in the UK came out a comedy by Tony Hawks “ Tennis with the Moldavians ”. The filming was attended by British and Moldavian film actors. Some scenes of the film were shot in Moldova itself.

In 2019, the first series filmed in Moldova (co-production of Ukraine, Moldova and Russia) - “Investigator Gorchakova” was released on television.

• Great Soviet Encyclopedia , article "Moldavian SSR", section "Cinema".