Zavod Rybnykh Konservov v Astrakhani - 1908
ABOUT THE FILM : Zavod Rybnykh Konservov v Astrakhani
GosFilmoFondThe Fish Processing Factory at Astrakhan
Year: 1908
On a dock, men and women are bustling about. The fish is unloaded and brought to the covered market. The fish merchants gut the fish with dexterity, before salting it. While the men weigh the fish, the women rinse out their clothes and tools in the port’s water.
This film, oscillating between the documentary and the reporting style, follows workers all through the day. It comes from the Pathé collection on Picturesque Russia.
Nationality: Russian
Length: 5' 28"
Genre: documentary
Sound: silent with soundtrack
Original elements: black & white
Producer: Pathé
Composer: Marc Perrone (2008)
Original language: French
A BRIEF HISTORY : Zavod Rybnykh Konservov v Astrakhani
In February 1908, Pathé launches a collection of twenty-two short films titled Picturesque Russia. This is the way for the Muscovite branch of the French company to meet the Russian public' special request.
Back then, the French company Pathé has a vast distribution network and, since 1902, owns a little production studio in Moscow, used mainly for documentaries. From 1907 on, the Drankov and Khanzhonkov studios briskly develop a Russian film market. These new producing companies make the most of the Great Russian authors such as Gogol and Pushkin, a never-ending source of inspiration.
Alexander Drankov makes a screen adaptation of a Tolstoy short story, Kniaz' Serebrianyi. Pathé takes this competition very seriously and retaliates by starting up immediately its picturesque collection, as well as short films inspired by the Russian repertoire.
The subsidiary company also hires local directors. In 1909, it distributes the first hand-colorized film, directed by Vasilij Goncharov, and inspired by a popular Russian song: Dashing Fellow Merchant (Ukhar'-kupets). That same year, Gontcharov brings to the screen the Cossack Mazepa legend for the Russian Khanzhonkov (visible on this website).
The Khanzhonkov Empire' name is closely related to the moment' effervescence. But right before the First World War, 90% of the films shown in Russia are western productions. After the declaration of war, Pathé must transform its local branch. First of all, Pathé closes down its studio to create I. N. Ermol'ev/Ermolief, a Russian company under the leadership of the filmmaker Josef Emolief, who immediately begins directing feature films with first-class actors and directors.
During the war, the market of documentary film is not viable. It falls under the governmental control of the Skobelev committee. Pathé also creates the Proektor magazine. It is a commercial success, and the company entrusts its distribution network to Ermolief. In 1917, the former runs from the Bolshevik Revolution to take refuge in France. Pathé then rents for him the Parisian former studios of Georges Méliès in Montreuil.
In 1957, a first year student of the Film School VGIK restored this print from the Gosfilmofond.
The original music for this film was composed by Marc Perrone in 2008.
