The Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (Russian: Всероссийский государственный университет кинематографии имени С.А.Герасимова, meaning All-Russian State University of Cinematography named after S. A. Gerasimov), VGIK for short, is a film school in Moscow, Russia. It was founded in 1919 by the film director Vladimir Gardin and is, according to the institute, the oldest film school in the world. During Soviet times the film school was known as All-Union State Institute of Cinematography (Russian: Всесоюзный государственный институт кинематографии). Film directors including Aleksey Batalov, Sergei Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin were among its faculty. Alumni include Sergei Bondarchuk, Elem Klimov, Sergei Parajanov, Alexander Sokurov and Andrei Tarkovsky. Since 1986, the school is named after the film director and actor Sergei Gerasimov. In 2008 the institute became a university.