Historic Lenfilm Studio Spends August In Court

By Luisa Schulz

The St. Petersburg Times

Published: August 15, 2012 (Issue # 1722)

The peripeties surrounding the crisis-stricken Lenfilm film studio have not come to an end. Throughout the month of August, the legendary studio has faced a series of legal proceedings, while its future is to be determined in September.

On Aug. 6, the studio was taken to court for a 1.38-million-ruble ($43,500) debt it owes to the St. Petersburg Fuel and Energy Complex. The trial was adjourned until Sept. 10.

Lenfilm’s Aug. 9 trial regarding a debt of 477,000 rubles ($15,000) to Gazprom Mezhregiongaz St. Petersburg also ended in the defense applying for a suspension.

Meanwhile, the studio is still awaiting its costliest trial, with Barrier, a security company that is suing the film studio for 4.8 million rubles ($151,000). The trial is scheduled to start Aug. 20.

Lenfilm has been ridden with economic crisis for the last few years. Last October, Vladimir Putin promised that the studio would remain in state hands under all circumstances. In June 2012, newly nominated Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky repeated the promise to take care of the studio.

At the moment, three different screenplays have been submitted for Lenfilm’s future.

Sistema, an investment company, envisages a liaison between Lenfilm and RWS, a film and television corporation. This plan would require the studio to move out of the city center and transform its historical residence into a business center that would include a huge cinema complex and multi-story parking garage.

Lenfilm’s board of directors is playing a similar card, suggesting turning Lenfilm into a production platform that would take orders from other companies. Their scenario also implies the selling of Lenfilm’s property.

A very different vision was expressed in May by Lenfilm’s public council, the only group with Lenfilm artists as members. They insist that all of the studio’s capital remain state-owned, asking for a state loan of two billion rubles ($63 million) in order to cover debts and renovation expenses.

“We have to fight for the preservation of the studio and stay here because this studio is not only a memorial, but also a place of preparation…there is everything here for the birth of new cinema,” Lenfilm luminary Alexander Sokurov said in a meeting with company employees on Aug. 6.

Whether the upcoming decisions will be the closing credits or a new fade-in for the legendary stronghold of Petersburg cinema remains to be seen.