The message reads:

Dear friends,

Please accept my congratulations on the 95th anniversary of the legendary studio Lenfilm.

This is a big occasion not just for the filmmaking community of St Petersburg, but for the entire nation. Many outstanding directors, cameramen, scriptwriters and actors have worked on the studios' sets in Kamennoostrovsky Avenue. Some 1,500 features, documentaries and television films have been produced here, with many then winning prestigious international awards and becoming world classics. These include masterpieces such as the films Peter the Great, Hamlet, The Lady with the Dog, King Lear, Cinderella, The Heart of a Dog, My Friend Ivan Lapshin, and Taurus.

Lenfilm, among the country's oldest movie studios, is on the verge of a transformation, which will include the renovation of existing units and sets and the construction of new, modern facilities, as well as the founding of a film school.

I wish you every success, and I hope Lenfilm's legacy will continue to accrue fresh names and outstanding new releases.

Dmitry Medvedev