Museum of the Cinema

The Museum of the Cinema is a film museum located on the grounds of the Odesa Film Studio in Odesa, Ukraine. Operated as a section of the National Union of Cinematography (NUCU), it houses more than 10,000 works documenting the history of cinema in Odesa from the invention of film through postmodern, digital, and avant-garde periods. The museum occupies a historic mansion that belonged to the Demidovoy-San-Donato family before the Russian Revolution, and it serves as both a public exhibition space and an active research archive for the study of Ukrainian and Soviet cinema history.

The collection of materials began in the second half of the twentieth century through the initiative of the Odesa section of the National Union of Cinematographers of Ukraine. For decades it functioned primarily as an internal archive and research center under the direction of historian and filmmaker Vadim Kostromenko, who served as director from 1996 until 2017. In May 2017, a memorandum of understanding promoted by new leadership under Andriy Osipov officially united the collections of the Union of Cinematographers with the historical heritage of the Odesa Film Studio. This agreement marked a rebirth and thorough restructuring of the museum, which reopened to the public with renewed institutional identity and was integrated into the financial management and tourist activities of the film studio. As of May 2026, the Odesa Film Studio was carrying forward a deep process of reorganization and reinterpretation of its cinematic history, with museum projects focusing on the valorization of contemporary Ukrainian culture, the resilience of cultural memory during geopolitical conflict, and the planning of new educational initiatives and exhibitions.

The museum's collection comprises over 10,000 catalogued objects including audiovisual materials, set designs, costumes, vintage technical equipment, directors' biographical archives, and actors' photographs. The arrangement of documents follows the production history of the studio and the city, tracing works produced in Odesa, the figures involved, and the technological transformations of the twentieth century. The archives include rare literature such as books, newspapers, and magazines about cinema from 1900; personal effects of the first heads of the Odesa studio including Michael Kapchinsky, Lazarus Polyak, and Gennady Zbandut; personal effects of producers associated with the studio including Alexander Dovzhenko, Ivan Kavaleridze, George Tasin, Kira Muratova, Michael Kac, and Radomir Vasilevsky; and personal effects of actors including Amvrosiya Buchma, Vera Kholodnaya, Vladimir Vysocky, Yaroslav Lupiya, Vilen Novak, and Vadim Kostromenko. The technical holdings include unique cinematographic apparatus on which Dovzhenko worked, survey and sound-recording devices, lighting and assembly equipment, and film projectors. The archive also maintains dossiers on every rental and television film produced by the studio from 1954, consisting of literary and production scenarios, assembly records, complete sets of publicity photographs, and press reviews. Additional materials include sketches of scenery and costumes from all post-war films, raising projects for films (147 albums), castings (96 albums), a card index of actors recorded at the studio, photographs of all studio workers, audio recordings of events including the Golden Dyuk film festival, video films and videotape recordings of flashbacks and studio movies on 16-mm tape, published and unpublished memoirs of studio workers, a musical library with autographs of composers who wrote for the studio, film posters, prizes and awards to studio films, and a collection of stamps and envelopes devoted to cinemas. The museum also holds informative-methodical materials on different historical epochs including civil and military costumes, insignia of different armies, transport, cars, and models.

A particularly popular attraction within the museum is a 28-square-metre installation in a single room that explores the invention of cinema, featuring films by Joseph Timchenko that were produced two years纹理years prior to the work of the Brothers Lumière. These films were made for survey and demonstration purposes and represent pioneering moving image experiments in the city. The museum also documents the early Odesa film studios of Mirograf, Mizrakh, Borisova, and Kharitonova, which constituted essential stages of local civic production. The Odesa Film Studio produced feature films until 1941, when the Soviet Union entered the Second World War. Among the documented personalities are Aleksandr Dovzhenko, Kira Muratova, Ivan Kavaleridze, and Georgij Tasin, together with foundational local figures in the studio's administrative and creative history.

The museum is situated within the Odesa Film Studio complex at Frantsuz'ky Bulvar 33. The main entrance to the property is marked by a modern white and blue administrative building facing the public street, while the exhibition halls and the museum's archive are housed in the historic Villa Demidova-San Donato, a nineteenth-century mansion located in the interior courtyard of the property. This mansion belonged to the Demidovoy-San-Donato family before the revolution, and its historic character provides the setting for the museum's displays. The shelves within the museum are filled to the ceiling with artifacts.

The Museum of the Cinema operates as an integrated component of the Odesa Film Studio, accessible within the studio complex on Frantsuz'ky Bulvar in Odesa, Ukraine. Under the directorship of Vadim Kostromenko from 1996 to 2017, the institution developed its research and exhibition functions, and following the 2017 restructuring it assumed a central role in the studio's tourist and educational activities. The museum offers individual consultations for students, who have utilized its resources to write papers on cinema history and cultural development in Odesa. Museum researchers have produced an annotated, illustrated catalogue of Odesa films from 1917 to 2004, and a reference book about all producers, works, and workings at the studio was in preparation. The museum also publishes monographs on figures including Kira Muratova, Vladimir Vysockiy, Vasiliy Reshetnikov, and Ljudmila Popova. Its ongoing activities include continuous study, cataloguing, and the development of new educational initiatives and exhibitions.