61-st International Cannes film festival. The poster of celebrating of the 100 anniversary of the Russian cinema in the Russian pavilion.
Photo: Valery Levitin
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Putin Promises Moviemakers Billions
At least 4.3 billion rubles per year will be allocated annually to support the Russian film industry, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin promised today at a meeting on that subject in St. Petersburg. It was decided to allot at least 2 billion rubles for those purposes immediately. The decision was made in light of the need to form values that correspond to the interests of society and the strategic interests of the country.
The prime minister noted that, in the concept for the development of the country through 2020 that was recently approved by the government, the economy is to develop through innovation. Mechanisms for education should be included in those forms of innovation, he added, and the filmmaker can play a large role in that process. He mentioned children’s film, abstract film and documentary film in particular.
Production companies whose films attract mass audiences will receive the support in the form of grants or prizes of budget money of 10 percent of the sum of the box-office take of a film. The government is counting on increasing the share of domestic films on the market by up to 30 percent in four years through these steps.
The prime minister also noted the need to increase the number of exhibition spaces throughout the country. There are now more than 1700 modern movie theaters in Russia. Putin noted that there is easy access to film only in large cities, where the public’s income is higher, and that the gap in access is growing. In cities with population of less than 100,000, where half of Russians live, only 10 percent of the movie theaters are located, the prime minister noted, calling the fact “a serious social problem.”
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