The article analyzes the Russian historical cinema over the past twenty years. On the one hand, cinema forms images for the mass historical consciousness, and on the other hand, it is a marker of public interests for certain periods, historical events and personalities. When analyzing the cinema of the last twenty years, there is a weak interest in Pre-Petrine Russia and significant "white spots" when covering the events of the XVIII - XIX centuries. From the end of the XIX - beginning of the XX centuries the "actualized time" begins, which causes the greatest interest, due to its correlation with modernity, and the Great Patriotic War is the main dominant of modern cinema. The most controversial period, represented by many assessments, which, sometimes are even diametrically opposed, is the revolutionary 1917 year and the Civil War. In the historical cinema of the last two decades, there is no logical idea of the succession from the old monarchical Russia to the new Soviet one. In general, over the past 15 years, against the background of a significant increase in the number of historical movies, a noticeable patriotic trend has been observed. More and more films are appearing about Soviet successes in space and sports. Negative, traumatic moments in the coverage of national history are being replaced, and the trend towards a positive identity is becoming more and more dominant.