Illusion Cinema

The Illusion is the legendary cinema of the Gosfilmofond of Russia, located in the high-rise on Kotelnicheskaya Embankment. It opened on 18 March 1966 to screen films from the Gosfilmofond collection.

That same year, together with foreign archives, the cinema held retrospectives of films from Canada, Hungary, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Japan, and programmes devoted to David Wark Griffith, Fritz Lang, Boris Barnet and others.

Since 1966 the key strategy of the Illusion has been screening masterpieces of world and Soviet classics and introducing audiences to contemporary festival and popular cinema. About 300 events take place every year: 35 mm screenings, retrospectives of major directors, silent films with live music, premieres and special screenings, meetings with filmmakers, Russian and international film festivals.

Illusion Cinema halls

217

seats

Main Hall

seats

Small Hall

VIP-1

VIP-2

Intimate halls with four sofas each (two seats per sofa) equipped with a button to call a waiter from the restaurant

Go to Illusion

Accessibility

The main and service entrances are equipped with ramps for visitors with reduced mobility. Please note that the number of wheelchair spaces in the Main Hall is limited. The Illusion also has equipment for subtitling and audio description of films.

Discounts

Discounts apply to tickets for the cinema's repertoire in the Main and Small Halls. Discounted tickets are not available for premieres, previews and special screenings, on public holidays or in the VIP halls.

Preschool children, school pupils and students get a discount on Main Hall screenings from Monday to Thursday before 18:00. Discounted tickets are also available to people with disabilities and conscripts on presentation of the relevant documents. Children under 3 attend free of charge sharing a seat with an adult.