Saint Petersburg

Culture

St. Petersburg in the movies

(see also Cinema of Russia and Soviet Union)

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The end of the cultural predominance of St. Petersburg (and Moscow being chosen as the new capital) coincided with the dawn of film industry in Russia. Only few films achieved international acclaim and other international productions from Western countries couldn't film there. Lenfilm was the Soviet film studio based in St. Petersburg, however films that became known internationally were often based on famous literary works, such as quite a few Anna Karenina (a Russian and a French film, each of 1911; the first Western Anna Karenina has been shot in Petersburg after the end of communism) or several versions of Fyodor Dostoevsky's The Idiot (the first one, Russian, in 1910).

Related Topics:
Moscow - Lenfilm - Anna Karenina - French - 1911 - Fyodor Dostoevsky - The Idiot - 1910

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Several Films deal with the complex history of the city many of which have propaganda purposes. Outstanding is the film Noi Vivi (Italy, 1942, see noi vivi at imdb), based on the novel We the Living by Ayn Rand, a film that comments on Italian politics by way of showing the October Revolution. Anastasia has been shot several times, famous especially the one from 1956 with Ingrid Bergman and Warner Brothers' musical (USA, 1997). Giuseppe Tornatore plans a film about the Siege of Leningrad in 2005. The Russian Ark, shot in the Winter Palace (now the Russian State Hermitage Museum), let the audience meet various real and fictional personages from 300 years of Russian history, including the present. Der Untergang was also filmed in Petersburg because of similarities of the historical city center and the center of Berlin of 1945.

Related Topics:
Propaganda - Italy - 1942 - We the Living - Ayn Rand - Italian politics - October Revolution - Anastasia - 1956 - Ingrid Bergman - Warner Brothers - Musical - USA - 1997 - Giuseppe Tornatore - Siege of Leningrad - 2005 - Russian Ark - Winter Palace - Hermitage Museum - Russian history - Der Untergang - Berlin - 1945

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St. Petersburg also is seen in Interdevochka (also ???????????? or Intergirl) by Pyotr Todorovsky in 1989 featuring impressive shots of the city. The cult comedy Irony of Fate (Cyrillic: ?????? ??????, ??? ? ?????? ?????!, English title: Irony of Fate) even if mostly shot at Cheremushki, Moscow) plays in St. Petersburg (showing some very nice pictures of St. Petersburg) and pokes fun at Soviet city planning.

Related Topics:
Interdevochka - Pyotr Todorovsky - 1989 - Irony of Fate - Cheremushki - Moscow

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Fiction movies are e.g. GoldenEye (1995) or the action movie Midnight in St. Petersburg (UK, 1996). Onegin (1999 featuring Liv Tyler) is based on the Pushkin lyrics and shows many tourist attractions.

Related Topics:
GoldenEye - 1995 - Action movie - Midnight in St. Petersburg - UK - 1996 - Onegin - 1999 - Liv Tyler - Pushkin

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The International Film Festival in Saint Petersburg is held annually since 1993 during the white nights.

Related Topics:
International Film Festival in Saint Petersburg - 1993

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St. Petersburg in literature

It was said that St Petersburg was the head of the Russian Empire, whereas Moscow was its heart. "The most purposeful city in the world" (as Dostoyevsky referred to it) frequently appeared to Russian writers as menacing and unhuman mechanism. The grotesque and often nightmarish image of the city is featured in Pushkin's last poems, the Petersburg stories of Gogol, the novels of Dostoyevsky, the verse of Alexander Blok and Osip Mandelshtam, and in the symbolist novel Petersburg (by Andrey Bely).

Related Topics:
Russian Empire - Russian writers - Gogol - Dostoyevsky - Alexander Blok - Osip Mandelshtam - Petersburg - Andrey Bely

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Notable people

main article: List of People in St. Petersburg

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Numerous Russian and international aristocrats, politicians, artists, and scientists were born and/or have lived in Saint Petersburg. These include many of the Russian emperors, the novelists Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Vladimir Nabokov, the composers Modest Mussorgsky, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Igor Stravinsky and Dmitry Shostakovich, the painters James McNeill Whistler and Kazimir Malevich, the scientists Leonhard Euler, Mikhail Lomonosov, Heinrich Schliemann and Alfred Nobel, the ballet dancers Vaslav Nijinsky, Anna Pavlova, George Balanchine and Rudolf Nureyev, and the politicians John Quincy Adams, Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, and Vladimir Putin.

Related Topics:
The Russian emperors - Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Vladimir Nabokov - Modest Mussorgsky - Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky - Igor Stravinsky - Dmitry Shostakovich - James McNeill Whistler - Kazimir Malevich - Leonhard Euler - Mikhail Lomonosov - Heinrich Schliemann - Alfred Nobel - Vaslav Nijinsky - Anna Pavlova - George Balanchine - Rudolf Nureyev - John Quincy Adams - Gustaf Emil Mannerheim - Vladimir Putin

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