  kinostudiya "lenfilm" () is a production unit of the russian film industry, with its own film studio, located in saint petersburg, russia, formerly leningrad, r.s.f.s.r. today oao "kinostudiya lenfilm" is a corporation with its stakes shared between private owners, and several private film studios, which are operating on the premises. since october 2012, the chairman of the board of directors is fyodor bondarchuk. == history == ===before lenfilm=== st. petersburg was home to several russian and french film studios since the early 1900s. in 1908 the st. petersburg businessman vladislav karpinsky opened his film factory "ominum film" which produced documentaries and feature films for local theatres. during the 1910s, one of the most active private film studios was "neptun" in st. petersburg, where such figures as vladimir mayakovsky and lily brik made their first silent films, released in 1917 and 1918. the territory of lenfilm was originally in the private ownership of the aquarium garden, which belonged to the merchant georgy alexandrov, who operated a restaurant, a public garden and a theatre on the same site. the composer peter tchaikovsky came to what was then the aquarium theatre (and is now stage # 4 of lenfilm) as a guest to the 1893 performance of the overture to his the nutcracker ballet. famous russian bass singer feodor chaliapin performed here in the 1910s and the early 1920s. stars of the soviet era also gave performances here, such as isaak dunaevsky, and leonid utyosov with his jazz-band during the 1920s and 1930s. ===petrograd and leningrad film industry=== the facilities and land of the leningrad film studio were nationalized in 1918 and it was established as a soviet state-funded film industry. within just a few years it bore several different names, such as "petrograd cinema committee" and "sevzapkino" among various others. in 1923 the nationalized aquarium garden was merged with "sevzapkino" and several smaller studios to form the soviet state-controlled film industry in st. petersburg. during 1924 - 1926 it was temporarily named leningrad film factory goskino and eventually changed its name several times during the 1920s and 1930s. at that time many notable filmmakers, writers, and actors were active at the studio, such as yevgeni zamyatin, [[gr
Companies_based_in_Saint_Petersburg Film_production_companies_of_Russia Film_production_companies_of_the_Soviet_Union Media_in_Saint_Petersburg Russian_film_studios State-owned_film_companies