The French Visited the RWS St. Petersburg Studio

A team of French filmmakers under the leadership of Christine Laumond, an Audiovisual Attaché for the French Embassy in Russia, visited the RWS St. Petersburg studio on October 7, 2011.
A tour of the film studio, during which the attendees had a chance to look at the soundstages, post-production complex, and the Educational Studio of the St. Petersburg State University of Film & Television, was followed by a talk with the creators of a new Russian World Studios’ production. The attendees were impressed with the team’s considerable preliminary work and took an interest in the show production details.
CHRISTINE LAUMOND, AN AUDIOVISUAL ATTACHÉ FOR THE FRENCH EMBASSY IN RUSSIA,
“What we’ve seen today is truly incredible! Actually, I did expect to see something amazing as I’ve been told this is the best film studio in Russia. But the studio’s state-of-the-art technology and facilities really impressed me. Both the equipment and the soundstages are truly cutting-edge. You can tell immediately that practically anything can be done at the studio. Dedicated people and true experts work here. It is obvious that the production level is high and employees are exceptionally professional.
You know, a number of productions French filmmakers are planning to shoot in Russia, which used to be quite low, has increased in the past few years. The next movie the filming of which is scheduled in Moscow will be directed by Pascal Chaumeil, who directed ‘L'arnacoeur/ Heartbreaker’ starring Vanessa Paradis. He is coming to Russia in a week along with popular French actor Dany Boon and Diane Kruger. Recently my fellow countrymen shot a Josée Dayan’s movie ‘Raspoutine’ starring Gérard Depardieu in St. Petersburg. I’ve noticed that French filmmakers are no longer afraid of coming to Russia and working productively. Shooting here, especially at RWS, is wonderful. For example, it was your post-production complex where Alexander Sokurov’s team worked on the sound of ‘Faust’, which recently won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. It is well-known that RWS has both skillful workers and equipment of the same level as Western studios, which will attract more and more French filmmakers.”
Michel Grange, the head of French Institute in St. Petersburg, highly appreciated the RWS St. Petersburg studio’s capabilities, and particularly expressed a wish to invite French producers and directors to have a tour around the studio for them to see it with their own eyes and come afterwards to work on their productions in St. Petersburg.
The visit took place within the ‘Rendez-Vous with Young French Cinema’ Festival, which was held in St. Petersburg from October 5 to 10, 2011. The festival was intended to show the citizens and visitors to St. Petersburg a collective picture of the modern French cinema, ranging from the director’s debuts of Louis Garrel, a representative of the famous film dynasty and a gorgeous actor, to the works of Mia Hansen-Love, a former critic of Cahiers du cinema.
Among the films presented at the festival were films by Zabou Breitman, a multiple winner of the César Award and the Moliere theatre award, Sophie Letourneur, a participant of Two Weeks in Cannes, and Thomas Salvador, a true master of short films. Directors Remi Bezancon and Guy Mazarguil presented their works made in the true French genre of romantic comedy.