Production : A. Drankov, Atelier cinématographique d'Alexandre Drankov
Release date in Russia : 15/10/1908
Plot synopsis
The first Russian feature.
«Having spent enormous amounts of money, human labor and time I did everything in my power to ensure that the technical and artistic level of the movie is appropriately high for an epoch-making film in our cinema» (Aleksandr Drankov).
Sten’ka Razin has the distinction of being the first Russian dramatic production — a tribute to the determination
of its producer, Aleksandr Drankov. When his first seventeen actualities failed to win serious attention in early
1908, he answered the widespread call for Russian-made films with Sten’ka Razin. This account of the popular
brigand leader who dallied with a captured Persian princess was adapted from a traditional ballad “From the
Island to the Deep Stream” and Drankov commissioned original music to accompany his film from no less than
Ippolitov-lvanov, then head of the Moscow Conservatoire. Energetic promotion ensured the film’s commercial
success and launched Drankov’s career as a producer.
Source : www.milestonefilms.com