Cinema of Moldova
| Cinema of Moldova | |
|---|---|
Cinema Patria Bălți
|
|
| Number of screens | 29 (2011) |
| • Per capita | 0.9 per 100,000 (2011) |
| Main distributors |
Colaj Elatrentservice Gaudeamus Cinema |
| Produced feature films (2009) | |
| Fictional | 1 |
| Animated | - |
| Documentary | - |
| Number of admissions (2012) | |
| Total | 598,000 |
| • Per capita | 0.168 |
| Gross box office (2006) | |
| Total | MDL 10 million |
The cinema of Moldova developed in the early 1960s during the Soviet period, experiencing a flowering of about a decade and a half. Stagnation followed, and after the Moldavian SSR became independent in 1991, the industry almost completely disappeared.
On 26 April 1952 the USSR Ministry of Cinematography initiated the Documentary Film Studio in Chişinău. During the first year two documentaries, Kodry and Moldovan Cannery appeared. The picture directors were from Moscow and Odessa, as by that time there were no national workers in the field of cinema. Between 1952 and 1957, six documentaries were screened.
On 24 January 1957 the MSSR Council of Ministers took the decision to rename the "Documentary Film Studio of Chişinău" to the "Studio for Fiction Movies and Chronicle Documentaries from Chişinău" also named "Moldova-Film".
In 1957, the first fiction comedy film was called Cînd omul nu-i la locul lui (When the man is not himself) after a script written by Ion Druta.
In 1968, the first cartoon film, The Goat with Three Kids, was released, a film inspired by Ion Creanga's fairy-tale with the same title. In 1972, the satirical series Usturici appeared.
Between 1952 and 1982, 120 fiction movies, 800 documentaries, 750 editions of the cinema magazine Soviet Moldova, 40 editions of Usturici and 40 cartoons were filmed at the Moldova-Film studio. It also dubbed 12 fiction movies and 70 short stories annually by the end of the 1980s.
A cinema was built in the beginning of the 1950s in the center of Chişinău, which is now part of the Moldovan "Patria" chain.
The first internationally acclaimed success was the film of Moldovan producer Mihail Kalik - Lullaby (Russian: Колыбельная), released in 1960 at Moldova-Film studios. The movie was awarded the "Prize for Participation" at the international cinema competition at the Locarno International Film Festival, bringing attention to the emergent Moldovan film industry.
Another international success was Man Is Walking After the Sun (Man Is Following the Sun Russian: Человек идет за солнцем), written by Valeriu Gagiu and Mihail Kalik. The world press compared this movie to the Albert Lamorisse movie Le Ballon Rouge, where, just as in the Moldovan movie, the main hero was a little boy. Vadim Derbenev, the cameraman, was awarded the special jury diploma at the International Cinema Festival in Helsinki for his work.
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Wikipedia