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ArcheoBiblioBase: Archives in Russia: C-22

Last update of repository: 14 March 2020

Gosudarstvennyi fond kinofil'mov RF (Gosfil'mofond Rossii/GFF)


Holdings

Total: 1,044,765 units
scenarios—2,669 units; administrative records—5,280 units; production files—4,572 units; photographs—363,707 units; posters (Soviet)—4,949 units; editing outtakes (animated films)—700 units; posters (foreign)—3,280 units; editing outtakes (documentary/ popular science films)—15,610 units; personal papers—4,732 units; scrapbooks—8,634 units

Located on a large estate outside of Moscow, Gosfil'mofond serves as a centralized repository for the collection and storage of depository copies and negatives of all artistic, popular science, and other feature films and shorts, as well as some documentary and animated films produced in the former Soviet Union by 1993 totalling some 50,000 titles. The centralized film archive also retains film footage, editing outtakes and related production materials. It also collects films from Soviet successor states and other foreign countries, although since 1991, financial constraints have limited such possibilities.
        According to the federal law “On Depository Copies” (23.XI.1994), Gosfil'mofond is supposed to receive two free depository copies of all cartoons, artistic films, documentary and popular science films, together with scenarios and editing outtakes within a month of their public release in Russia. Owing to the privatization of film production, however, and the extent to which many post-1991 films have been produced as joint ventures (with the rights accordingly belonging to foreign distributors), Gosfil'mofond has not succeeded in acquiring copies (and related archival materials) of many recent films.
        In addition to the films themselves, Gosfil'mofond also has an extensive collection of scenarios, film posters, photographs, press clippings, scrapbooks, set designs, production files covering 4,572 films, and other documentation on the history of film. It holds the personal papers of the filmmakers A.P. Dovzhenko, S.M. Eisenstein (Eizenshtein), A.A. Khanzhonkov, V.D. Khanzhonkova, Dziga Vertov (pseud. of D.A. Kaufman), as well as those of the film critics and scholars such as G.A. Avenarius and V.E. Vishnevskii. It also retains individual personal record cards on the major figures of Soviet cinematography, including files on some 1,473 Soviet filmmakers.
        As an active member of the International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF), Gosfil'mofond maintains permanent relations with foreign film archives and undertakes exchange and cooperative activities.
        Gosfil'mofond provides an important center for film research, with an extensive cataloguing and publication program. It has several studios that present programs of film classics and other retrospectives as well as extensive laboratories that have developed advanced techniques for the restoration, preservation, and reproduction of early films. Air-conditioned storage vaults have been specially constructed for optimum preservation.

N.B. Documentary films and newsreels are normally retained by RGAKFD (B–11), while films produced specifically for television are preserved by Gosteleradiofond (C–23).


ABB ArcheoBiblioBase Archeo Biblio Base Patricia Kennedy Grimsted