20/11/2002 - After the success of recent domestic productions, Putin’s government is focusing on the film industry and has earmarked over Euros 31 million as an incentive for 2003

The latest news from Russia is that its film industry is about to be resurrected. Despite fierce competition for the market from Hollywood’s major companies, allowed into the country under the terms of a Russian statute, domestic audiences seem to have rediscovered a taste for home-grown cinema and are returning to cinemas in droves. Despite the high – and, in some cases prohibitive cost of tickets (up to Euros 20 in some key cities). The recent performance of films like Egor Konchalovsky’s Antikiller, released on 42 screens against Men in Black II and taking Euros 355,000 against MIB2’s Euros 237,000, Alexander Rogozhkin’s The Cuckoo and Pavel Laughlin’s Oligarch ( both of whch were sold in the US) have resulted in Vladimir Putin’s government deciding to milk this unexpected opportunity. On the agenda at their 12 September meeting, the government decided to focus on film production by a five-fold increase the number of Russian films produced and distributed. In 1991, 375 Russian films were produced but ten years later that number dropped dramatically to just 41.
The aim is to produce 100 films per year between 2003 and 2006 and ensure that 25 per cent of films being screened in Russia are home made. With this in mind Mikaul Shvydkoj, the minister for culture, announced he was setting aside 1 billion Rubles (Euros 31.9 million) for 2003.
In the meantime, the development of the theatrical exhibition sector is being encouraged and sustained by important investors like Nikita Mikhalkov who, in partnership with financier Vladimir Potanin is planning to initiate a three-year Euros 39.5 revamp of the Cinepark circuit, a 100-countrywide network of cinemas, the first of which is situated in Moscow’s Youth Building.

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(Translated from Italian)