25/07/2002

The cinematographic landscape in Russia seems overwhelmed by Hollywood's enormous strength. Among those worried is President Vladimir Putin. He is planning a counterattack to resuscitate national cinema, which is indeed floundering. Russian films account for a mere 2% of the movies currently playing in the nation's cinemas. The President of the «New Russia» has launched a campaign which is estimated to spend over 32 million Euro and produce 100 films by the year 2006. The ambitious goal is to turn the current situation around and boost the market share for Russian films from the current 2% to 25%.
The end of the Soviet era seems to have signalled the end of the cinema arts, which, without state funding, cannot fend off the Hollywood invasion. In the past, more than 400 films were produced per year by the famous Mosfilm Studio. Today, there are just 60, of which fewer than 10 reach theatres, bringing in a paltry 500,000 Euro from a population of 145 million people.
Directors such as Nikita Mikhalkov, Andrej Konchalovskij, and Aleksandr Sokurov can't compete with Spiderman and Men in Black II, but today it seems that Putin is determined to get the upper hand, despite scepticism from those in the industry.

(Translated from Italian)