Manas Sirakanyan’s documentary film City Studies paints a portrait of the magnificent city of Saint Petersburg, Russia, and the young people who are dedicated to studying and preserving its cultural heritage. Viktor leads original walking tours, revealing hard-to-access, little-known, and unexplored corners of the city. Valentina has started a business restoring the wooden doors, windows and other architectural details of the city’s buildings. Margarita is a researcher, and minder, of historic cemeteries. Each of them, in their own way, is helping make the city a better place. By following the film’s protagonists as they go about their activities in summertime Saint Petersburg, audiences are able to see the city through their eyes — to look anew at familiar landscapes, notice details usually overlooked, and feel their love and concern for the past and the future of this historical city.

Manas Sirakanyan
Manas Sirakanyan was born in St. Petersburg during the first year of “Perestroika”. After receiving a Master’s Degree in Chinese Studies, he began working in Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Relations, but he left to pursue a career in the arts. An author as well as a filmmaker, Sirakanyan has directed numerous films documenting Russian arts and cultural events. His films have been shown in Russia and at festivals across Europe and the United States.