Cinema

The Belarusian cinematography traces its roots to 1924, when the Belarusian film studio Belgoskino with the production center in Leningrad were founded. The first Belarusian fiction film "The Forest Story", directed by Yuri Tarich, was produced in 1926.

In 1939 the studio was moved to Minsk. In 1946 it was named “Belarusfilm”. In 1997 in accordance with the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus A. Lukashenko the studio received the status "National".

Belarusfilm has got success due to the development and production of documentary movies about the Great Patriotic War, including "Konstantin Zaslonov" (directed by V. Korsh-Sablin, A. Faintsimmer, 1949) , "Clock Stopped at Midnight" (directed by N. Figurovsky, 1958) and other ones. Movies about the history of Belarus were also ranked high: "Red Leaves" (directed by V. Korsh-Sablin, 1958), "Moscow-Genoa" (directed by V. Korsh-Sablin, P. Armand, A. Speshnev, 1964), "I’m Francysk Skaryna" (directed by B. Stepanov, 1969).

The films based on works by Belarusian writers have always achieved great success among moviegoers. "People of the Marsh", "The Storm’s Breath"  (dir. by V. Turov, 1981, 1983) based on the dilogy by Ivan Melezh, "Sign of Misfortune" (dir. by M. Ptashuk, 1986) and "Alpine Ballad" (dir. by B. Stepanov, 1965) based on the short novels by Vasily Bykov, "King Stach’s Wild Hunt" (dir. by V. Rubinchik, 1979) based on the novel by Vladimir Korotkevich, "Come and See" (dir. by E. Klimov, 1985) based on the short novel by Ales Adamovich – these films are included in the golden collection of Belarusian cinema.

Since the late 1980's Belarusian cinematographers sought to comprehend more deeply the historical past and the complex processes of modernity, which is reflected in the films "White Dew" (dir. by I. Dobrolyubov, 1983), "Our Armored Train" and "Cooperative "Politburo"" (dir. M. Ptashuk, 1988 and 1992), "I will repay" (dir. B. Stepanov, M. Kasymova, B. Shadursky, 1993) and others.

The studio is also renowned for its children’s films: "Kortik" and "The Bronze Bird" (directed by N. Kalinin, 1973 and 1974), "The Last Summer of Childhood" (directed by V. Rubinchik, 1974), musicals "The Adventures of Buratino" and "About the Little Red Riding Hood" (directed by L. Nechayev, 1975 and 1977), "There’s no secret" (directed by I. Dobrolubov, 1976), "The Marvelous Adventures of Denis Korablev’s" (group of directors, 1979), etc.

At different times the mastery of the domestic filmmakers was highly evaluated at international film festivals. The first Soviet mystical thriller "King Stach’s Wild Hunt" (dir. by V. Rubinchik, 1979) won awards at several film festivals. The film "People of the Marsh" (dir. by V. Turov, 1981), based on the novel by Ivan Melezh, among other awards, won a special jury prize for its cast at the 23rd International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary (Czechoslovakia, 1982). The social drama about drug addicts “Under the Blue Sky” (dir. by V. Dudin, 1989) won several prestigious awards at the 47th Venice International Film Festival (Italy) in 1990. In 1994 the military drama “Through the Cemetery”, directed by Viktor Turov, was included in the list of 100 best films of the world by UNESCO.

During the last years films created in Belarus were awarded at various film festivals. Among them are "Anastasia Slutskaya" (dir. by J. Elhov, 2003), "Guide" and "Dunechka" (dir. by A. Efremov, 2001 and 2005), "In August of 1944" (dir. by M. Ptashuk, 2000), "The Brest Fortress" (dir. by A. Kott, 2010), "In the Fog" (dir. by S. Loznitsa, 2012).

Minsk International Film Festival “Listapad” is the biggest film festival of the country held in Minsk. His program includes only the best feature films, documentaries and animations - winners of international film festivals in the CIS, Baltic States, Eastern and Central Europe.

Today, the "Belarusfilm" national film studio is one of the leading film studios in Eastern Europe with a complete production cycle able to produce up to 15 feature films, 40 documentaries and 10 animated films annually. Filmmakers from other countries, particularly from Russia, use the services of Belarusfilm.There is the "Letopis" documentary film studio, as well as the animation studio and actors studio theater.

A great work on the development of national cinema art is carried out by the Belarusian Union of Cinematographers, created in 1962.

Muzej istorii belorusskogo kino (The Museum of History of the Belarusian Cinema) was opened in 1976 for the 50th anniversary of release of the film “The Forest Story”.

Belarusian Union of Cinematographers

Cinema Actor Theater

‘Eurasia.DOC’ CIS Countries Documentary Film Festival

International Festival of Animated Films "Animayevka"

Minsk International Film Festival "Listapad"

Minsk International Full-Dome Film Festival (MIFF)

Museum of the History of Belarusian Cinema

"Na ekranah" (“On screens”), the cinema magazine

National Film Studio "Belarusfilm"

The national state broadcaster of the Republic of Belarus (Belteleradiocompany)