Russian cinema to receive government support

MOSCOW, April 14 (Itar-Tass) - The Russian audience has started turning away from Hollywood blockbusters, though probably not as quickly as the authorities would like it to, to show growing interest in national cinema. Films made in Russia enjoy growing box-office success today. The government is working out measures to support Russian domestic production while lawmakers are calling for restrictive quotas on foreign films. Box-office receipts from Russian films broke the five-year maximum in the first quarter of 2014, as follows from a report by the independent research and consulting Movie Research Company. National movies account for 34 percent of the Russian total box office. Four national motion pictures are among the top ten highest-grossing movies at once. From January to March 2014, box-office revenues from Russian films amounted to 4.8 billion roubles (about $133 million), showing a 68-percent increase year-on-year. The European Audiovisual Observatory’s data show that even though the share of Russian movies at the local box office has increased, it has reached only 18 percent. Russian politicians are concerned over the domestic film industry's inability to compete with Hollywood products in terms of box-office revenues. That is why there has been ever more talk about the need to introduce special measures to support national cinema. In early April, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered to develop protectionist measures in the next two or three months to support Russian movies, making it more expensive to show foreign films in the country. It was proposed imposing a levy on imports of “foreign films of low commercial appeal” and extra charges for all foreign films. Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky also called for a charge on low-budget commercial movies, categorised by producing countries’ national associations as B-movies. Supportive measures, aimed at increasing the number of Russian movies screened in the country, also include freeing Russian film companies, which already pay no taxes on film production, from the value added tax on advertising and promotion, and providing grants and tax incentives to animation studios. This is not for the first year that restrictions on Hollywood movies are being discussed. Sergei Zheleznyak, the deputy speaker of Russia’s State Duma lower house of parliament from the ruling United Russia party, suggested the other day that the share of Russian movies in local cinemas be increased to at least 20 percent. Last month, United Russia party State Duma deputy Robert Shlegel proposed a bill to guarantee that half of all films shown in the country were locally produced. “American movies, which are demonstrated on a large scale today, propagate U.S. national interests and values, and a lot of them are of low quality,” Shlegel told Izvestia daily, adding that Russia was capable of producing its own films that could interest the audience. The Russian president's advisor on culture, Vladimir Tolstoy dismissed Shlegel’s proposal as “absurd” and “a populist measure”. Very few Russian films can attract capacity crowds nowadays. These are usually high-budget and widely publicised blockbusters, New Year’s Eve comedy series, romantic movies for Valentine’s Day and International Women's Day and animated cartoons. Learn more on itar-tass.com