President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Good afternoon, friends.
As is customary in such circumstances, I will begin with congratulations. Happy 100th anniversary!
Over these 100 years, VGIK has certainly become a very important part of our cultural landscape. One would think that all the most iconic film directors, actors, scriptwriters, animators and camera operators, in general, all film specialists, studied at VGIK. Importantly, your specialists work both in our country and abroad. You are teaching foreign students and, given the quality of VGIK education, this represents Russia’s major, in today’s parlance, soft power.
I congratulate you on this anniversary, I want to wish you success in your work, both in training film professionals and in creating new masterpieces with your hands, your heart, your talent and the talent of your students, which would please the audience not only in our country, but internationally as well. I started with the fact that VGIK has become an indispensable part of our cultural landscape, but bearing in mind its significance for our culture, it, of course, is a contribution to world culture not only in cinematography, but in culture, in the broadest sense of the word.
I congratulate you and wish you all the best.
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