Vladimir Putin visited VGIK 2019-10-17 16:30:00 Moscow The President visited Russia’s oldest film school, the National State Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (VGIK). The President toured the institute’s classrooms and viewed the work of the animation and multimedia department. He also went to the puppet shop and the camera department. In addition, Vladimir Putin attended a concert by final-year students. During his visit to the institute, Vladimir Putin met with its masters, graduates and students. VGIK is Russia’s fundamental cinematographic institute. It educates professionals of cinema, television and other screen arts in higher, secondary and additional education programmes. The State Cinema School of the Production Unit of the Russian Photo and Cinema Department at the People's Commissariat for Education, which later became the famous VGIK, was established a hundred years ago, on September 1, 1919. It was the first state educational institution for training cinema professionals. The institute has seven departments, higher cinema and television courses, and the Cinema, Television and Multimedia College. The institute has branches in Irkutsk, Rostov-on-Don and Sergiyev Posad near Moscow. Doctor of Art Criticism Vladimir Malyshev has been the institute’s rector since 2007.