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MeMediadia ResourcesResources Management.Management, 22ул. ZakrevskyЗакревско St.,го, 22,Kiev К 02660,иев, 02660, Ukraine Укр аина 1 Тwww.mrm.uaел.: + 380 44 Tel.: 459 +380-4610 (44) Фак 459-4610;с: + 380 44 e-mail: 459-4611 [email protected] [email protected] www.mrm.ua PRODUCTION PRODUCTION C PRODUCTION №11 February 22, 2013

SERIES ANGEL OR DEMON

Russian film company Amedia in co-production with Action Director: Mark Gorobets. AMEDIA Art company is working on mystery TV series Angel or Demon. Cast: Anna Andrusenko, Kirill Za- The project is commissioned by Russian СТС channel. Shooting porozhsky, Daria Poverennova, started in the mid-December and currently takes place in Mos- Yaroslav Boyko, Alexei Komashko, cow. It is an adaptation of popular Spanish TV series Angel o Tatiana Fedorovskaya, Maria Demonio produced by Plural Entertainment company and aired Gorban, Sergey Chirkov, Vasilisa on Telecinco in 2011. Mrochko. Genre: Mystery. Synopsis: The lead character Masha is always coming to the res- cue no matter who is in need. Actually, she is an angel, who looks like an ordinary girl and does not stand out of other high school students. The Devil never sleeps, and sends a demon named Dan. To neutralize Masha Dan has to make her fall in love with him. But there is one serious problem – it is Dan who falls in love with Masha and obviously he doesn't want to do her any harm…

SERIES THREE STARS

Russian production company DixiМedia started shooting multi- Producer: Yefim Lubinsky. DIXIМEDIA episode drama Three Stars. The project is commissioned by Director: Michislav Yuzovsky Ser- Russian NTV channel. Filming takes place in Anapa. Series pre- gei Lesogorov. miere is planned for 2013. Script: Ilya Kulikov. Cast: Anna Dankova, Ivan Kole- Synopsis: Slava and Marina are brother and sister. Their family snikov, Yaroslav Leonov, Maxim was incomplete, and being kids they used to compete with each Turans, Vladimir Tebenko. other in everything. No wonder their relations are far from ideal. Genre: Drama. Slava is 31 years old now, but still, he had not found his place in society and he is just seizing his days. As for Marina, there was a time, when she was a popular TV-host, but now she is 36 and is not seen on the TV screen anymore.

SERIES THE GIRLS 3

Russian film company Kosfilm started preproduction of the Producer: Evgeniy Nikishov. KOSFILM third season of sitcom The Girls. The project is commissioned Director: Sergei Koryagin. by Russian TNT channel. Script: Olga Frenkel. Cast: Galina Bob Taisia Vilkova, Synopsis: Four heroines – Masha, Olga, Katya and Vasilisa – will Anastasia Denisova, Polina Maxi- continue to fight for their personal happiness. Masha wants a mova, Alexei Vorobyov. meaningful relationship, Vasilisa is building a career, Katya tries Genre: Sitcom. to gain heart of the man she loves, and Olga puts her best foot forward to become wealthy.

Sergei Koryagin SERIES THE FLOWERS OF EVIL

Russian film company Luch wrapped up shooting on 4-episode Director: Anna Legchilova. LUCH TV romance with thriller elements The Flowers of Evil named Script: Maria Kulidzhanova. after the volume of poetry of Charles Baudelaire. Filming took Cast: Svetlana Antonova, Dmitry place in Rostov-on-Don, Novocherkassk and Moscow. The proj- Ulyanov, Anfisa Chernykh, Alex- ect is commissioned by Russia One TV channel and is likely to be ander Ustyugov Maria Zvonareva, finished in April 2013. Sergey Chirkov, Dmitry Isaev. Number of episodes: 4. Synopsis: Film heroine is a police psychologist trying to help Genre: Detective drama. three investigators to catch a very dangerous maniac, who is mad about poetry of Baudelaire. Anna Legchilova

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SERIES THE THAW

Russian production company Marmot-film is working on Producer: Leonid Yarmolnik. MARMOT-FILM 12-episode TV drama The Thaw. The series is commissioned by Director: Valeriy Todorovskiy. Channel One Russia. Shooting takes place in the Mosfilm studio. Cast: Mikhail Efremov, Nina Dvorzhetskaya, Vladimir Gos- Synopsis: 1961. The Mosfilm studio. Viktor Khrustalyov is a young tyukhin, Evgeniy Tsyganov, Alex- and talented director of photography. Once he was drinking with ander Yatsenko, Anna Chipovs- his friend Kostya, a promising scriptwriter, but their binge ended kaya Konstantin Chepurin Pavel tragically – while drunk Kostya fell out of the window and died. Derevyanko, Victoria Isakova. Soon Viktor has found Kostya's screenplay, which had never been Number of episodes: 12. Genre: Drama. Leonid Yarmolnik approved for shooting, and decided to make the film…

SERIES THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOON 2

Russian Producing Center SREDA started working on the Producer: Alexander Tsekalo. PRODUCING CENTER SREDA second season of the detective drama series The Other Side Cast: Pavel Derevianko. of The Moon (the company recently acquired rights from BBC Genre: Detective drama. Worldwide). The project is Russian adaptation of the British TV series Life on Mars which originally aired in 2006. Currently the project is in pre-production period.

Synopsis: Police investigator Mikhail Solovyev had been chasing the criminal when hit by car. Being taken to the hospital Solovyev slips into a coma and in some mysterious way – appears to be in Alexander Tsekalo his father’s body in 1979. Journey in time continues…

SERIES THE SECRET CITY

Russian channel REN-TV in co-production with Russian film Genre: Fantasy. REN-TV, STUDIO TG-FILM company Studio TG-Film started shooting fantasy series The Secret City based on the cycle of romances by Vadim Panov. Panov approved the script himself and the series is to be pre- miered this year. Cast, director and scriptwriter are still unknown.

Synopsis: No one knows that there is a hidden city on the terri- tory of Moscow – the Secret City inhabited by the ancient civili- zations of all kind. They became too weak and the union of the three magical Houses left is their only chance to survive, but they have to ask us – people – for help…

SERIES TOPI

Russian-Ukrainian prodco RUmedia started working on 4-epi- Producers: Andrei Kretov, Dmitry RUMEDIA sode mystery thriller Topi. Project is in a preproduction now Agnevsky. (casting will start soon). As the synopsis shows it is likely that the Director: Nikolai Khomeriki. shooting will start this summer. Script: Dmitry Glukhovsky. Number of episodes: 4. Synopsis: Summer. The whole Moscow is covered with an indus- Genre: Mystery thriller. trial mist. Five young Moscowites decide to escape the city for an expedition. The road takes them to the Topi – small village hid- den in the neck of the woods far from federal highways. Strange place, strange people. Strange if not to say scary and sinister. In fact, no one has ever returned from Topi yet. Will these five be the first?

Andrei Kretov

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SERIES POLICE MAJOR th On the 30 of January Russian film company Russian World Producer: Yuri Sapronov. RUSSIAN WORLD STUDIOS Studios started shooting 16-episode detective Police Major. Director: Artem Antonov. Shooting takes place in St. Petersburg (RWS studio including), Script: Victor Olshansky, Mikhail Gatchina, Pushkin, Shlisselburg and Kronstadt. Bartenev. Cast: Andrey Ilyin, Anna Bansh- Synopsis: Police major Andrey Kamyshin was a man of honor chikova, Dmitry Blokhin, Olga and principle, but hindering powerful criminals never ends well. Kalmykova, Elizaveta Kutuzova, He had been set up and sentenced to a term of imprisonment Valery Dyachenko, Tatyana Iva- and forced treatment in the nut hospital. Years passed and finally nova. Andrey was acquitted of the charges and released. Now he is a Number of episodes: 16. policeman again and his aim is to clean the city from all kinds of Genre: Detective. criminals. Whatever it takes… Yuri Sapronov SERIES MOVE ON th On the 7 of February Russian film company Russian World Director: Nurbek Egen. RUSSIAN WORLD STUDIOS Studios started shooting 12- episode romance Move on. Cast: Maria Mashkova, Marat The project is commissioned by Channel One Russia. Shoot- Basharov, Barbara Brylska, Nina ing takes place in Moscow and Moscow region and due to be Ruslanova, Veniamin Smekhov, finished in June 2013. Production budget for each episode is set Vladimir Yepifantsev. for $300.000. Number of episodes: 12. Genre: Romance. Synopsis: This is a story of a young woman Vera, who loses ev- erything in one time – her full sister, beloved man and well-paid position in a bank. It completely changes her life, and Vera de- cides to go to work in a domiciliary nursing agency. Each epi- sode features one of her patients whose problems and trage- dies show Vera that there are no coincidences in her life and she should redefine her personal values.

SERIES CAPTAIN BRAGIN – SUPEROFFICER th On the 11 of January Russian film company Russian World Producer: Yuri Sapronov. RUSSIAN WORLD STUDIOS Studios started shooting multi-episode romantic comedy Cap- Director: Anatoliy Artamonov. tain Bragin – Superofficer. Filming takes place in Moscow. Cast: Sergei Sharifullin, Natalia Kosteneva, Evgeniy Antropov, Synopsis: Alexey Bragin has been working as a police investiga- Yegor Koreshkov, Julia Borilova, tor for many years. He is not the sharpest pencil in the box, so Tamara Spiricheva, Dmitry Gusev, being 35 years old he is just a captain. But everything changes Alexei Ovsyannikov, Andrei Kozlov. when he marries Sonya from Odessa. She is smart and sharp- Genre: Romantic comedy. witted woman, and she wants Alexey to become a general. That is why she helps him to solve the most complicated offences. Anatoliy Artamonov

SERIES SALAAM, MUSKOW

Russian prodco Russian project studio finished shooting Producer: Denis Evstigneev. RUSSIAN PROJECT STUDIO 16-episode TV drama Salaam, Muskow. The project is com- Director: Pavel Bardin. missioned by Channel One Russia. Filming, which was made Script: Pavel BardinMaria with an agile camera, took place in Russia and Dagestan from Saprykina, Alexander Molcha- February till September 2012. novAndrey Berezhansky, Andrey Zhitkov. Synopsis: Two leading characters – Russian and Dagestani po- Cast: Alexander Golubkov, Ali licemen Alexander and Rustam – are the agents of special N De- Aliyev, Sayera Safari, Farhad partment, formed to prevent crimes committed by Vietnamese, Makhmudov Magomedarip Surha- Tajiks, Azerbaijani etc. migrants, all those who come in Moscow tilov Maria Boltneva, Lisa Marti- in numbers and are usually called ‘ponaehavshie’. Alexander nez. and Rustam do not like each other, but they will team up to do Number of episodes: 16. their duty. Genre: Drama.

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SERIES ASH

American director of Russian origin Vadim Perelman finished Director: Vadim Perelman. WEIT MEDIA shooting 9-episode historical drama entitled Ash. Filming start- Script: Eduard Bagirov. ed in March and took place in Kronstadt, Moscow, Vyborg and Cast: Vladimir Mashkov, Yevgeny Karelia. Film is commissioned by Russia One TV channel/ The Mironov, Sergei Garmash, Chul- project is currently in post-production and is set to premiere this pan Khamatova, Petr Mamonov. year. Russian WeiT Media company is producing the series. Genre: Historical drama.

Synopsis: Film will cover historical episodes of the USSR life in 1938-1948, focusing on the war tragedy and valorous victory of the Soviet people.

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TV MOVIES THIS IS QUITE SOMETHING

Russian film company Mediaprofsoyuz starts working on new Producer: Alexander Kushaev, MEDIAPROFSOYUZ television romance This is Quite Something. Currently the Vladimir Ignatiev. project is in pre-production period. Filming start is planned for Director: Alexander Khvan. this spring. Script: Alena Platun, Alexey Tagu- shev, Marianna Sokolskaya. Synopsis: Marina is on the shady side of forty, she works as a Cast: Elena Drobysheva, Vladislav dressmaker in the parlor, lives with an adult daughter Lera whom Vetrov. she brought up on her own. Respectable businessman Veli- Genre: Romance. gorov, one of the customers, falls in love with her daughter. But he is very shy. A parlor friend persuades Marina that he is an ide- al match for her daughter. Worried for Lera’s happiness Marina makes everything to arrange her daughter’s life with Veligorov but instead falls in love with him. She does not even suspect that he shows affection to her daughter only to be closer to the mother. Meanwhile, Lera falls in love with Veligorov’s assistant Artem and when she says to her mother that she has met a man of her dream Marina is convinced that she talks about Veligorov.

TV MOVIES IN PLACE WHERE I AM HAPPY

Russian film company Russkoye started shooting 2-episode Producers: Alexander Kushaev, RUSSKOYE TV romance In Place Where I am Happy. The project is com- Irina Smirnova. missioned by Russia 1 TV channel. Director: Rauf Kubaev. Script: Alexei Aleshkovsky. Synopsis: The plot is a story of a woman who is experiencing Cast: Natalia Antonova, Oleg the middle-age crisis and who in a single moment loses all her Maslennikov-Voitov, Evgeniy Si- family. dikhin, Sergei Astakhov, Darya Jurskaya, Anastasia Akatova. Genre: Romance. TV MOVIES LIFE AFTER LIFE

Russian-Ukrainian film company Star Media started filming Producers: Vlad Riashyn, Larisa STAR MEDIA new TV crime melodrama Life After Life. Filming is currently Zhuravskaya. taking place in Ukraine. Director: Alexander Budyonny. Script: Elena Zhukova. Synopsis: Having lost hopes to find happiness with her beloved Cast: Julia Mavrina Evklid Kurdzi- man Dmitriy (he is her chief and much older than the girl) jour- dis, Anton PampushnyAlena Kole- nalist Masha accepts Yuri Kozakov’s attention. He is wealthy, snichenko, Sergei Siplivyi Miroslav handsome, gallant and honorable. Soon after the rapid-fire Belonogiy, Irina Melnik. marriage Masha begins to notice strangeness in the behav- Genre: Crime melodrama. ior and life-style of her husband. And when he goes in busi- ness trips Masha permanently hears somebody’s steps in her house, sees a hovering shadow in the garden. Soon the girl finds out a terrible secret and her life is in deadly danger… Will Masha save herself? Who will be near in the difficult times?

TV MOVIES UNLOVED

Russian film company Russkoye started shooting 2-episode Producers: Alexander Kushaev, RUSSKOYE TV romance Unloved. The project is commissioned by Russia Irina Smirnova. 1 TV channel. Director: Artem Nasybulin. Script: Natalia Kudryavtseva, Ta- Synopsis: Ania is a promising student of the medical institute in tiana Sharno. the capital. She has to quit the studies and come back home to Cast: Dmitriy PchelaNadezhda take care of her family: father-alcoholic and little brother Vania. Mikhalkova, Oleg Maslennikov- The main character does not even suspect that at home much Voitov, Natalia Gvozdikova Anatoly more serious changes are waiting for her. With the girl’s arrival Uzdensky Igor Bochkin Sasha Bu- in the town the gossips reemerge about her late mother’s af- latov, Svetlana Pavlova. fair with chief doctor of the local polyclinic Sergey. So, Masha Genre: Romance. makes DNA-test to her brother. Sergey’s fatherhood is proved but the results are hidden from Ania. Meanwhile, Sergey and his son Misha devise a cunning plan of adoption in which the Alexander Kushaev main part is dedicated to Ania who does not suspect anything.

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TV SHOWS GOT TALENT Early February casting to fifth season of Ukrainian version of Format: Got Talent. STB the popular British talent format Got Talent wrapped up. The project is produced by the local STB channel. Show premiere is planned for this spring.

Contestants of the show have to perform their talents in front of the judges and a live audience. The show follows live shows where the final 40 contestants will perform throughout the week in order to impress the public. The winner receives a significant cash prize.

TV SHOWS COMEDIANS AT WORK Russian TV channel СТС started production of the local adap- Host: Mikhail Shats. СТС tation of Israeli company Armoza Formats format Comedians Format: Comedians at Work. at Work. Russian version of the format premiere is planned for this spring. Note that the local adaptations of the show have al- ready been aired on Israeli Reshet Channel 2, Germany’s RTL, Norway’s TV2 etc.

The format combines a live stand up act with reality themes. Comedians at Work has a simple and effective premise: each week, 2 stand up comedians go out to different workplaces and experience them for a day. When they return to the studio, each performs a brand new and fresh sketch on their experiences - offering us a glimpse at how stand up punches are born.

TV SHOWS BRAINIEST Ukrainian TV channel TRK Ukraine announced casting for Host: Lyudmyla Dobrovolska. TRK UKRAINE participation in the local version of the TV intellectual show Format: Brainiest. Brainiest based on the British ITV Studios Global Entertainment company format. Ukrainian version of the show will consist of 10 episodes. Project premiere is planned for this spring. Note that Russian version of the show aired on CTC TV channel in 2003-2012.

The original featured 4 different rounds.Round 1 - a set of 12 multiple choice questions, whittling down the number of male contestants from 12 to 3. Round 2 - a set of 12 multiple choice questions, whittling down the number of female contestants from 12 to 3. Round 3 - a subject-based round, where con- testants answered questions on two subjects, this halved the number of competitors to 3. A final round, where the remaining 3 contestants were tested on their own specialist subject and that of their fellow finalists.

TV SHOWS KILLER KARAOKE Russian TV channel U starts production of new TV entertain- Format: Killer Karaoke. U ment show Killer Karaoke based on the British company Zo- diak Rights format. Project premiere is planned for a new TV season.

Six different contestants appear in each show. They are sepa- rated into three preliminary rounds of two contestants, and each have approximately 90 seconds to sing their song. Con-

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testants are introduced to the audience and told their challenge. Before every challenge, host says to the contestant: “No matter what happens, do not stop singing.” The winner for each round is picked by the live studio audience via popular vote and is auto- matically advanced into the Killer Karaoke Final Showdown.

TV SHOWS CLASH OF THE CHOIRS Ukrainian TV channel 1+1 prepares a new singing TV show Format: Clash of the Choirs. 1+1 which will gather on one scene different choirs that will com- pete each other. Casting for this show produced by Sister’s Production will start this spring. The show will premiere this fall. The project is to be the local adaptation of Shine’s Clash of the Choirs format.

The show involves several community choirs from around Ukraine competing against each other in a knockout compe- tition that sees them performing songs from many different musical genres. The winning choral group will receive money prize.

TV SHOWS THE GREAT BRITISH BAKE OFF Ukrainian TV channel 1+1 announced casting for participation Format: The Great British Bake «1+1» in new cooking TV show The Great Bake Off based on the Brit- Off. ish BBC Worldwide format. The Ukrainian version shooting will start this summer. The project premiere is planned for this fall.

The Great British Bake Off is the ultimate baking battle where passionate amateur baking fans compete to be crowned the country’s Best Amateur Baker. During 10 weeks 12 keen bak- ers – young, old and from every corner of the country – will mix and bake their way through progressively tough challenges. They will be under the eye of presenters and professional judg- es. The experts will inspect, prod and sample the baked good- ies and decide who gets to have their cake – and eat it.

TV SHOWS PROMZILLAS Ukrainian TET TV channel announced casting for participation Host: Inna Tsymbalyuk. TET in the third season of television reality show The Queen of the Format: Promzillas. Ball. The programme is Ukrainian adaptation of Promzillas format by Zodiak Rights Company. The project will premiere in new season.

During the project a trendy lilac bus of Promzillas reality-show with a team of experts - makeup artist, hairdresser and host will visit the towns and villages. Girls from different Ukrainian re- gions – Kyiv, Donetsk, Odessa etc – will participate in the proj- ect. In each program viewers will see four challengers for the crown.

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TV SHOWS PEDAN-PRITULA SHOW On the 5th of February Ukrainian channel Novy started pro- Hosts: Alexandr Pedan, Sergey NOVY CHANNEL duction of the original entertaining TV project Pedan-Pritula Pritula. Show with hosts Alexandr Pedan and Sergey Pritula who are also the creative producers of the show. Project premiere is set for the 10th of March.

In this new show Alexandr Pedan and Sergey Pritula will raise the most vital problems but talking about them in a pawky hu- mor style.

TV SHOWS THE BIG DANCE Russia 1 TV channel is holding casting for its new TV dancing Choreographer: Paul Domaine. RUSSIA 1 show The Big Dance. Eight dance crews of 100 people each from eight different cities – Moscow, St. Petersburg, Samara, Rostov-on-Don, Nizhny Novgorod, Volgograd, Kazan’ and Saratov – will compete for the title of the dance capital of the whole Russia. Show will premiere on the 9th of March.

Under the guidance of choreographer Paul Domaine they will prepare modern and dynamic dance performances in a hip- hop, breakdance, housedance, r&b, rock’n’roll, jazzdance styles. Every Saturday two crews will battle for the right to stay in project. Jury will allot the marks, but the TV viewers are those who shape crew’s destiny.

TV SHOWS PRACITCAL MAGIC Russian channel Domashniy is preparing new TV show Pracit- Duration: 49 minutes. STORY FILM, DOMASHNIY cal Magic with Story Film company producing the project. The show premiered on the 17th February.

This programme should help to solve problems with children health, family well-being and husband cheating by applying the mystical sciences – numerology, horoscopes, fen shui etc. Each episode is divided into five blocks: children, health, love, work and money.

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FEATURE EPIC FILMS Mid January in Georgian capital Tbilisi commenced principal Producers: Mike Downey, Daniel photography of Ben Hopkins’ feature “black comedy” Epic. Zuta, Artem Vasiliev, Vladimir The film is a co-production between U.K.-based Film and Katcharava. Music Entertainment company, Frankfurt-based Brand- Director: Ben Hopkins. storm Entertainment, Russian Metrafilms and Georgian 20 Script: Ben Hopkins, Pawel Paw- FILM AND MUSIC ENTER- Steps prodco. Project was developed by the British Film Insti- likowski. tute (London), and is supported by the HessenInvestFilm Fund Cast: Mathew MacFadyen, My- TAINMENT, METRAFILMS, (Frankfurt), Metrafilms and the French-German cultural chan- anna Buring, Noah Taylor. BRANDSTORM ENTERTAIN- nel Arte as well as the Georgian National Film Centre. Shooting Genre: Black comedy. will move from Georgia to Germany in the last week of February MENT, 20 STEPS 2013 for a week on location in and around Frankfurt. Post pro- duction will take place in Germany from March 15th. Film pre- miere is planned for 2014.

Synopsis: A gentle black comedy about a confused, washed-up Academy Award winning British movie director who gets invited by a nascent state to make a national Epic in an obscure Cau- casus Republic. When Emil Forester receives an invitation to the Embassy of the Autonomous Republic of Karastan in London to discuss his career and to receive an invitation for a retrospec- tive of his films in ‘Karastan- Land of Inspiration’ - little does he know that he is embarking on one of the wildest journeys of his already diverse and colourful career.

FEATURE MY GRANDMA IS A WITCH FILMS LENFILM Russian film company Lenfilm finishes postproduction of the Producer: Vyacheslav Telnov. children-oriented feature My Grandma is a Witch. Shooting Director, script: Sergei Karan- took place in Saint-Petersburg in 2010-2011. The film premiere dashov. is planned for this spring. Cast: Vasily Ivanov, Ovsyanniko- va Anna Alexander Plaksin, Maria Semenova. Synopsis: The main character Vasya Novikov, a 12-year-old Genre: Children’s film. schoolboy, lives on the outskirts of a provincial town and dreams of having at least some talent. Vaska’s mother spends most of her life on business trips, so Vaska spends a lot of time with his father who works in the zoo. Vaska lives his ordinary life until his grandma comes to him from the village. She turned out to be a real witch. And as far as his mother is in the long business trip, the grandma, when she dies, passes her unusual skills to Vaska instructing him to use this gift only for the good of people.

FEATURE FILMS GUIDE PRONTO FILM Ukrainian production company Pronto Film finished shooting Producers: Igor Savichenko, some episodes of the feature drama Guide. Principal photog- Maxim Asadchiy. raphy took place in spring and summer of 2012 in and around Director: Les’ Sanin. Kharkov. The project received $2 million state grant from the Cast: Stanislav Boklan, Anton Ukrainian Film Commission. Svyatoslav Green etc. Genre: Drama. Synopsis: The action take place in Ukraine, Mongolia, USA and Switzerland in 1920-1930 and in our time. This is a story of American boy Peter who came to Ukraine in the late 1920-s. He speaks with a heavy accent but tries to learn Ukrainian… After his father was killed the boy met blind Pandora-player Ivan Ko- cherga. Ivan and Peter were traveling throughout Ukraine. Peter turned into Petr and grew up very quickly experiencing the joys, grieves, love, human disaster and death. In winter 1934 Ivan Kocherga along with several hundreds of other Pandora-play- ers and lyrists who gathered on a conference were executed near Kharkov. Peter was the only alive witness of those events.

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FEATURE SPACE MOWGLI FILMS Russian film director Alexei Fedorchenko starts working on fea- Producers: Dmitriy Vorobiev, FEBRUARY 29 ture romantic drama Space Mowgli based on the Arkady and Alexei Fedorchenko. Boris Strugatsky’s novel, written in 1971. Currently the film is in Director: Aleksei Fedorchenko. pre-production period. The project is financially supported by Script: Mikhail Maslennikov. Russian Cinema Fund and is produced by February 29 prodco. Genre: Romantic drama. Film premiere is planned for 2015.

Synopsis: The plot of the original source narrates about the group of earthmen that land on, as it was supposed to be, unin- habited planet Ark in order to prepare it for further colonization by the inhabitants of planet Pantha which was going to perish soon. On site the earthmen discover the crashed spacecraft of the space independent researchers from the Group of Free Search on which a married couple with a little baby arrived. The parents died during the crash. However, the baby survived and was brought up by the mysterious race of aboriginal-nonhu- manoids impossibly alien to the human race. The team mem- bers had to decide what to do with the child…

FEATURE FORT ROSS FILMS Russian film company MOROZ film finished principal photog- Producer: Dmitry Kharatyan. MOROZ FILM raphy of the historic feature adventures Fort Ross based on Director: Yuriy Moroz. Dmitriy Poletayev’s novel. Currently the postproduction is un- Cast: Artem Tkachenko, Maxim derway at Mosfilm facilities. On the 1st of March film crew goes Matveev, Anna Starshenbaum, to California (the USA) to shoot some final scenes of the film. Maxim Vinogradov. The project with a $10 million production budget is supported Genre: Historical adventure. by Russian Cinema Fund. Film premiere is planned for this sum- mer.

Synopsis: One of the main intrigues of the Russian history has been disclosed! How did it happen that in XIX century Russia lost for good its lands in North America? It possessed a huge Dmitry Kharatyan territory from Alaska to North California! In quest of the answer the group of TV journalists: intellectual Dmitriy, simple-mind- ed Phimka and beautiful Margo – travel through the time and space visiting both tsarist palaces and Indian wigwams. Their discovery is going to stun you and make you look at the known historical events quite differently. The characters find the an- swer in the facts which have been thoroughly concealed until now. Nonetheless, are you ready to take the truth?

FEATURE WHITE REINDEER MOSS FILMS Russian film director Vladimir Menshov started working on Producers: Vladimir Menshov, VLADIMIR new feature mythological drama White Reindeer Moss. Cur- Alexander Litvinov, Svetlana Dal- MENSHOV’S PROJECT rently the project is in pre-production period. Shooting will skaya. commence this March and will take place in Yamal-Nenets au- Director: Vladimir Tumaev. tonomous district (Russia). Film premiere is planned for late Script: Valery Bakirov. 2013 – early 2014. Genre: Mythological drama.

Synopsis: The plot is dedicated to the dramatic destiny of a young Nenets whose sweetheart went to study to the regional center. The guy suffers and wants to join his darling. Meanwhile in the tundra a wolf nicknamed Lame Devil kills the girl’s mother and little sister. The girl arrives to her father, she is beautiful and inaccessible. She wears citified clothes and she does not like rough foods and simple natures of her tribesmen. She returns Vladimir Menshov

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to the city. The guy’s mother brings another girl to the nomads’ camp but the main character is not interested in her. The young Nenets and Lame Devil meet in the tundra. The guy wins a bloody fight. The girl whom brought the guy’s mother takes care of the young man and cures his terrible wounds. Thanks to her atten- tion she gets the right to light the fire in his chum.

FEATURE IVAN PODDUBNY FILMS Russian film companies Krasnaya Strela (aka Red Arrow) and Producers: Valeriy Todorovskiy, KRASNAYA STRELA, TRITE TriTe finishes working on the feature biopic Ivan Poddubny. Leonid Lebedev, Vadim Goryain- Postproduction is currently underway at Mosfilm facilities. ov, Leonid Vereshchagin. Shooting started in March 2012 and took place in Feodosia, Director: Gleb Orlov. Kiev, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris, and New York. The project Script: Yuriy Korotkov. budget totals almost $12 million. Film premiere is planned for Cast: Mikhail Porechenkov, the second half of this year. Denis Lavan, Vladimir Ilyin, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Roman Madyanov, Alexander Mikhailov, Ron Perl- Synopsis: Film is based on a life story of Ivan Poddubny - a Rus- man. sian Empire and Soviet wrestler of Ukrainian Cossack descent. Genre: Biographical drama. When he was a child he already showed a remarkable strength easily doing the hardest work. His first partner and coach was his father. He began his sports career around 1900 and his ca- reer lasted for about forty years. Poddubny received numerous invitations to tours in many countries. The strongest opponent was a Pole Stanislaw Zbyszko-Cyganiewicz and Poddubny fi- Valeriy nally prevailed over him in the United States. During the Nazi German occupation, he refused to leave the Soviet Union to Todorovskiy train German wrestlers…

FEATURE FILMS THE TRIBE GARMATA FILM Ukrainian production company Garmata film started pre- Producer: Valentyn Vasya- production of new feature drama The Tribe. Filming start is novych. planned for the autumn 2013. Production budget is about $1.5 Director: Myroslav Slaboshpits- million. The project is financially supported by Ukrainian Film kiy. Comission and The Hubert Bals Fund of the Rotterdam Festival Genre: Drama. (Netherlands). Expected release date is April 2014.

Synopsis: Sergey is a deaf-and-dumb teenager who enters a special boarding school. There he tries to find his place in the hierarchy of the boarding school community, which operates like a Mafiosi group ruled by the King. Myroslav Slaboshpitskiy FEATURE SAMSON FILMS Russian film company Trikita Entertainment starts working on Producer: Sergei Bodrov, Yury TRIKITA ENTERTAINMENT new feature adventure drama Samson. The project will be Rus- Krestinskiy. sian-American coproduction and is currently in pre-production Director: Sergei Bodrov. period. Film release is planned for 2014. Script: Sergei Bodrov, Carolyn Cavallero, Eric Nazarian Genre: Adventures. Synopsis: Samson overflows with life. The Philistines are his tribe’s enemies, but they are also his closest friends. Only with them can he be himself, drinking and laughing and entertaining them with his jokes. When his closest friends kill his wife and her family, Samson vows revenge. He burns their fields and towns, Sergei Bodrov killing hundreds, and then flees. The Philistines send their army to capture him. To save his people from war, Samson surren- ders. He is rescued by friends, but then betrayed by a woman who loves him. The Philistines blind him, robbing him of his

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power…The years pass. Blind Samson knows that the Philis- tines plan to invade his homeland and destroy his people. The day of the great festival to the gods arrives, and Samson takes a horrible revenge. Samson was the first Super hero in history. His story comes to us from the ancient past, from the land of the Dead Sea. Yet a Super hero never dies. He will live again in this movie.

FEATURE THE LAST SUMMER FILMS Russian prodco Valday Films finishes working on the feature Director: Eugeniy Zvezdakov. VALDAY FILMS action The Last Summer. The project postproduction is cur- Script: Oleg Molovichko. rently being proceeded at Mosfilm. Shooting started in Moscow Genre: Crime drama. in September 2012.

Synopsis: Kostya is bored of his life despite his parents are wealthy and he can afford everything he wants. Being offended by his father, Kostya is left alone and wants adventures. Howev- er he sees an opportunity to try something new and becomes a person who finds and marks a likely place for robbery. But very soon he will understand that it’s not a childish game and finding the way out will be a problem for a young man.

FEATURE LOVE IN THE BIG CITY 3 FILMS Late January Ukrainian prodco Studia Kvartal 95 in copro- Producers: Sergei Livnev, Lev LEOPOLIS, STUDIA KVARTAL 95 duction with Russian Leopolis film company started shooting Nicholau. feature romantic comedy Love in the Big City 3. Principal pho- Director: Marius Weisberg. tography started in Las Vegas and then will move to Moscow. Cast: Alexei Chadov, Vera Production budget of the project totals 2.5 million. Film release Brezhneva, Ville Haapasalo, An- is planned for 2013. astasiya Zadorozhnaya, Vladimir Zelenskiy, Svetlana Hodchen- Synopsis: The movie describes the actions that happen after kova, Philip Kirkorov, Leonid Yar- 5 years since the second movie events. Everything is great in molnik, Mikhail Efremov. the life of the main characters, they love each other and their Genre: Comedy. children grow up. But everything is too good, all their romance and passion has turned into routine. The men once a week meet in the pub and women completely dedicated themselves to the family and children. Their lives look something like that: job, home, sleep, zoo, job, home… Welcome to the adult life…

FEATURE KENZHE/YOUNGER BROTHER FILMS Mid February Kazakhfilm started shooting new feature action- Director: Ermek Tursunov. KAZAKHFILM drama Kenzhe/Younger Brother. Filming will last two mon- Cast: Mikhail Khmurov, Ekat- thes and will take place in Spain, Thailand and Kazakhstan. Pro- erina Zaitseva, Philip Voloshin, duction budget of the project totals $5 million. Gulbanu Ashimova, Bolat Abdil- manov etc. Synopsis: The movie is about two brothers from the far-away Genre: Action-drama. distant kolkhoz. One of them is twelve, another is eight. The boys’ parents died and they stayed all by themselves. The or- phanage wanted to take the brother but they ran away to the city. Some time passed and the brothers conquered the city: the was taking the orders to kill the people; the younger became the executive, killer. As a result Kenzhe gave himself away. He was being tracked and the trackers found the elder brother who splits up the junior. Thus, they started hunting each other.

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FEATURE 7 MAIN WISHES FILMS At the end of January Russian film company Rock Films started Producer: Alexei Uchitel. ROCK FILMS shooting new feature romantic comedy 7 Main Wishes. Film- Director: Vadim Sokolovskiy. ing takes place in Saint Petersburg and will last till the middle of Cast: Anton Makarskiy Irina this spring. Movie premiere is planned for the end of this year. Pegova, Julia Kozyreva Yekat- erina Klimova, Igor Petrenko. Synopsis: Masha is a present-day office employee who does Genre: Romantic comedy. not know what she wants from her life. Having lost her job on the eve of the holiday she rejoices with the dreams about magi- cal fulfillment of wishes. A shy doctor who is in love with Masha Alexei Uchitel since school days presents her a magical amulet that may make 7 wishes a reality. Though, making a wish you’d better be care- ful because the wish may come true…

FEATURE AMORI ELEMENTARI FILMS th ZORI FILM, CENTRO On the 24 of January started shooting of new feature roman- Director: Sergio Basso. tic comedy Amori Elementari (Elementary Love). The project Cast: Cristiana Capotondi, Anita SPERIMENTALE DI CINEMATO- is produced by Russian Zori Film in coproduction with Italian Kravos, Edoardo Pesce, Rach- GRAFIA, RAI CINEMA, Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia, Rai Cinema and ele Cremona, Andrea Pittorino, Sharoncinema. Filming locations are Rome and Moscow. Laura Gaia Piacentile, Bonny SHARONCINEMA Shooting will wrap up this April in Italian Alps. The production Mappilamattel, Anya Potebnya, budget of the movie totals €2 million. Maxim Bichkov, Andrey Cher- nishov, Olga Pogodina. Synopsis: A romantic comedy that has as its protagonists ten Genre: Romantic comedy. years old children who play hockey and are fond of figure skat- ing. Film is about first love and first “adult problems” of the kids…

FEATURE FILMS MAXIM OSA: A MAN FROM THE AFTERWORLD HANZHONKOVFILM Ukrainian prodco HanzhonkovFilm started pre-production of Producer: Alexei Shaparev. new feature adventure detective Maxim Osa: a Man from the Director: Alexei Mamedov. Afterworld, based on the comics of Ukrainian writer Igor Ba- Script: Irene Rozdobudko. ranko. Filming will take place in the vicinities of Kiev and will start Genre: Adventure detective. this summer. Film release is planned for 2014.

Synopsis: The main character of this movie is a Cossack that returned to his native village after a raid in the Crimea in 1636. The adventures start from the moment when Osa is sitting by his own grave and thinking-guessing how it happened: a man that is still alive was buried. Naturally, further events are a mix of thriller, mysticism and grim humor.

FEATURE THE SPY’S SOUL FILMS Russian Lenfilm company in coproduction with Russia 1 TV Director: Vladimir Bortko. LENFILM, RUSSIA 1 channel starts working on new feature spy drama The Spy’s Genre: Spy drama. Soul based on the book of ex-intelligence officer Mikhail Lyubi- mov. Principal photography will commence this April. Shooting will take place in St. Petersburg, London, Paris and Egypt.

Synopsis: The movie describes the work of our agent in Lon- don. The events take place nowadays. In the book And Hell Fol- lowed Him most of the scenes are autobiographic, and the main antagonist – a “rat” inside the Russian Intelligence – in greate detail is copied from the Soviet defector Oleg Gordievskiy who had been working for many years on English Intelligence while being the deputy of M. Lyubimov.

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FEATURE TAL FILMS Latvian prodco Forma Pro Films in coproduction with Russian Cast: Charlotte Gainsbourg. FORMA PRO FILMS, PIAR CITY producing centre Piar City starts working on biographical fea- Genre: Drama. ture drama Tal. Currently the project is in script development stage. Production budget of the feature is $2.75 million. The project is $400 000 supported by Rigas filmu fonds. Film pre- miere is planned for 2014.

Синопсис: Film is about world famous chess player - Mikhail Tal who was a Soviet-Latvian chess Grandmaster and the eighth World Chess Champion. Widely regarded as a creative genius and the best attacking player of all time, he played in a daring, Charlotte Gainsbourg combinational style. His play was known above all for improvi- sation and unpredictability. The movie itself consists of two par- allel lines: the real world where Mikhail Tal lives, and the world of chess.

FEATURE TAKING YOUR PAIN FILMS Russian film director Georgiy Paradjanov starts working on his Producer: Ekaterina Filippova. GEORGIY PARADJANOV’S second feature movie Taking Your Pain. The project is cur- Director, script: Georgiy Parad- PROJECT rently in pre-production period. Shooting of this feature drama janov. are planned to start in the second half of this year. Genre: Drama.

Synopsis: The plot is a real and unique story in which simple people from the Armenian village Kerkenj in Azerbaijan and Azerbaijani village Kyzyl-Shaphagh in Armenia during the con- flict escalation peacefully agreed, and with passive disapproval of the authorities, simply exchanged the villages. One of the main story lines is unfolding ten years before the exchange: Ar- menian girl Asmik from one village and Azerbaijani guy Rovshan from another fall in love and want to be together but the rela- tives of both parties are against their marriage. Then the enam- ored notwithstanding the pressure decide to end their lives and in a death note they ask to bury them together. Georgiy Paradjanov

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АURORA Аurora Distribution – acquisition and sales branch of Ukrainian group of companies Аurora – signed deal with production company Gulfstream production on international distribution of sketch com- edy Dairy of Pregnant (Dnevnik beremennoy, Ukraine, 2012). It was premiered in November 2012 on Ukrainian TV channel K1.

The story is built around the young pregnant girl who lives together Producer: Pavel Pozdnyakov. with her husband and eccentric mother-in-law, and who constantly Director: Nataliia Pasenitskaia. gets into funny situations thanks to her “certain condition”. Sketches Cast: Evgenii Smorigin, Oksana are full of witty and sometimes cynical humor about all the truth of Stashenko, Victoriia Bulitko, Ta- pregnancy: it could be either visit to ultrasound doctor, meeting with mara Iatsenko. her unmarried girl-friends, attending courses for pregnant women Duration: 44 x 26 min. or communication with the “most beloved” and extremely wise hus- Genre: Sketch comedy. band’s mother.

DT PRODUCTION Russian company DT production specializing on production of TV series as well as content distribution licensed season one of French detective series Jo (France, 2012) to Ukrainian TV channel 1+1. Pre- viously DT production acquired rights for the series for CIS and Baltic territories from Red Arrow International (formerly: SevenOne In- ternational) worldwide programming sales company of German Red Arrow Entertainment Group (production and distribution branch of ProSiebenSat.1 Group).

The main hero, brilliant and brutal detective St-Clair, matches wits Cast: Jean Reno, Jill Hennessy, with pathological killers to solve a series of shocking murders. St-Clair Tom Austen, Orla Brady, Heida is partnered with rookie detective Bayard, a good-looking college-ed- Reed and others. ucated cop whose by-the-book approach stands in marked contrast Duration: 8 x 45 min. to St-Clair’s lone-wolf methods. Supervising them is Commissaire Genre: Crime. Dormont, a tough-minded boss with a long tumultuous history with St-Clair. St-Clair’s personal life is as challenging and dangerous as the cases he solves. There are two women in his life - Karyn, an un- orthodox nun who works in the city’s underbelly, and his own daughter Adele, a young Emergency Room nurse as implacable as her father.

VIASAT

Pan-European TV Channel Viasat acquired from Sky Vision - distri- Director: Martin Williams. bution branch of British Sky Broadcasting Group (BSkyB) - rights for Duration: 3 x 50 min. the documentary series Kingdom of Plants 3D (Great Britain, 2011) Genre: Documentary. for Eastern Europe and Scandinavian countries. The series has also gone to France 5 (France), Servus TV (German-speaking Europe), RTL (Germany), VRT (Belgium) and TV2 (Norway).

This series reveals a whole new dimension in the lives of plants, from the most bizarre to the most beautiful. Using timelapse and macro photography, the host, David Attenborough, explores fascinating world of plants tracing them from their beginnings on the Earth to their vital place in nature today, exposing new revelations along the way. He moves from human time scale to theirs, revealing the true nature

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of plants as creatures that are every bit as dynamic and aggressive as animals. He does all this in one unique place, a microcosm of the whole plant world, where some 90% of all known plant species are rep- resented: The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew in London.

MEGOGO.NET Ukrainian online video portal Megogo.net acquired 300 hours of pro- grammes from international distributor BBC Worldwide. The deal – which covers drama, comedy, science, cookery, documentary, natu- ral history and children’s shows – includes titles like Sherlock, The Fades, Luther, Extras, The Naked Chef, Human Planet and Fro- zen Plant.

Sherlock depicts consulting detective Holmes, assisting the Metro- Duration: 6 x 90 min. politan Police Service, primarily DI Greg Lestrade, in solving various Genre: crime, drama, mystery. crimes. Holmes is assisted by his flatmate, Dr John Watson, who has returned from military service in Afghanistan. Although the series de- picts a variety of crimes and perpetrators, Holmes’ conflict with his enemy Jim Moriarty is a recurring feature. Pathologist Molly Hooper assists Holmes in her laboratory.

The Fades. The main hero, teenage boy named Paul, is haunted by Duration: 6 x 55 min. apocalyptic dreams that nobody can explain. As if that weren’t terrify- Genre: Fantasy, horror. ing enough, he begins to see spirits of the dead, known as The Fades, all around him. The Fades can’t be seen, smelt, heard or touched by other humans. When an embittered and vengeful Fade, Polus, finds a way to be human again, it’s up to Paul to stop him - and all of the dead - from breaking back into the world and destroying the human race.

Luther follows the cases of a troubled yet brilliant English police de- Duration: 10 x 60 min. tective, DCI John Luther. Separated from his wife, whom he loves pas- Genre: Crime, drama, sionately, he is torn between an unrelenting approach to solving se- mystery. rial killings and his attempts to rekindle his marriage. Luther is a highly charged emotional man who is not above stretching the law to solve a case or save a life. A woman named Alice Morgan proves she is equally brilliant by committing the perfect murder of her parents, which chal- lenges Luther as never before. At the same time Luther’s edgy police tactics make him a serious concern to his superiors, who feel that he is a threat to their reputations and that of the Police force.

Extras follows Andy Millman - an actor with ambition and a script. Re- Duration: 13 x 30 min. duced to working as an extra with a useless agent, Andy’s attempts to Genre: Comedy, drama. boost his career invariably end in failure and embarrassment.

The Naked Chef. The title of the cooking-show means that chef Ja- Duration: 6 x 30 min. mie Oliver strips down recipes and presents the bare essentials of Genre: Documentary. cooking.

Human Planet. The series explores the ways the humanity partially Duration: 8 x 60 min. adapts to types of natural environment and tends to change them. Genre: Documentary. Each episode examines how life differs for men and nature in some type of environment, from Arctic to desert and jungle, from coasts to mountains.

Frozen Plant. The series focuses on life and the environment in both Duration: 7 x 60 min. the Arctic and Antarctic. Authors tried to explore the effects of global Genre: Documentary. warming and the process of climate change on the both Poles.

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RUSSIAN WORLD VISION Russian content distributor Russian World Vision signed an inter- national distribution deal with Russian film company Enjoy Movies. According to the agreement Russian World Vision provides worldwide sales of latest films produced by Enjoy Movies including The Nannies (Nianki, Russia, 2012), Moms (Mamy, Russia, 2012), A Man With a Guarantee (Muzhchina s garantiey, Russia, 2012) as well as I′ll Be Around (Ya budu riadom, Russia, Ukraine, 2012) – coproduction with Ukrainian company Studio Kvartal 95.

The Nannies. The lead characters, two provincial businessmen in the Director: Ashot Keshyan. travel industry, who have never really treated seriously family life, chil- Cast: Nikolay Naumov, Ararat dren and their work, have a very important trip abroad. They dream of Keshyan, Ludmila Artemyeva, successful results in the negotiations. But suddenly the responsibility Aglaya Shilovskaya, Lina Do- for the three entirely unmanageable children falls on them. Everything brorodnova. would be fine, if they were not children of the capital business-woman, Genre: Comedy, family film. our heroes’ potential investor. Friends have to deal with the children, their grandmother, who came ostensibly to help, and German rivals, trying not to fail in such an important deal for them.

Moms. Every year on the International Women’s Day telephone net- Cast: Sergey Bezrukov, Dmi- works transfer millions of phone calls and SMS messages. The vast triy Duzhev, Mikhail Porech- majority of phone calls are addressed to the most important women in enkov, Egor Beroev, Gosha the life of everyone - to the mothers. The film tells eight different sto- Kucenko, Aleksandr Olesh- ries of how sons of different age and status congratulate their mothers. ko, Igor Vernik. Genre: Comedy, family film. A Man With a Guarantee. The lead character is an unusual person working as the security guard in shopping mall. He knows everybody and everything, and everyone knows and loves him. He doesn′t only Director: Artem Akseenko. work here, but also leads full-fledged life — he dresses free of charge, Cast: Alexander Oleshko, eats at restaurants, sleeps in a furniture department and participates Nonna Grishaeva, Dmitriy in night races on floor polishers. One day a trainee appears in his life. Nagiev, Petr Fedorov, Olga Their relations gradually start to develop into friendship. However, he Volkova. doesn’t know one important detail: his “colleague” is the owner of the Genre: Comedy, romance, shopping mall. family film.

I’ll Be Around. The heroine named Inna is a typical new Russian com- fortable middle class young woman, working as a manager at a Mos- cow restaurant where she is surrounded with respect and love of her Director: Pavel Ruminov. colleagues. Her 6-year-old son Mitya is the centre of her universe, her Cast: Maria Shalaeva, Roma best friend and ally. But one day Mitya sees his mum with a bandage Zenchuk, Maria Semkina, Ivan on her head. Inna tells him that she had a car accident, but the truth Volkov, Alisa Khazanova. is ruthless - brain tumor... Knowing that she will die soon, Inna starts Genre: Drama. looking for foster parents. Inna’s twisted journey of anxiety, weakness and dismay will lead to unexpected encounters, rediscovering her strength, self-restraint and in the end – hope.

Russian World Vision also signed a deal with Russian film studio Rock Films and added its film Break Loose (Vosmiorka, Russia, 2013) to the catalogue of international rights. The project is in postproduction.

The film tells the story of four best friends – Herman, Lykov, Shorokh and Grekh. They’ve been to war, they’ve seen life, but they are still passionate, young and willing to serve their country. They found their Director: Alexey Uchitel. place at OMON - Russian Special Police Squad. They can count only Cast: Maria Alexey Mantsigyn, on each other, and their real family is themselves. After working hours Artur Smolyaninov, Alexander they become simple guys with ordinary dreams like family and com- Novyn, Artem Bystrov, Pavel fort. But life changes when once in a night club the friends incidentally Vorozhtsov, Isidora Simijo- get in a fight with the local mafia. The trivial fight on the dance floor novic. turns into a real war. Genre: Drama.

Media Resources Management. 22 Zakrevsky St., Kiev 02660, Ukraine 18 www.mrm.ua Tel.: +380 (44) 459-4610; e-mail: [email protected] DISTRIBUTION DISTRIBUTION C DISTRIBUTION №11 February 22, 2013

EXCLUSIVE RELEASING US based Exclusive Releasing – distribution arm of international group of companies Exclusive Media – acquired UK and CIS distribu- tion rights for Two Mothers (France, Australia, 2013). The deal was closed at Sundance Film Festival where the world premiere of the film took place on January 18. Two Mothers is the first acquisition for Ex- clusive Releasing, which was launched in September 2012. The dis- tributor plans to bow the film in theaters and on VOD day-and-date.

Supposedly inspired by a true story, this film is about two mothers who Director: Anne Fontaine. really like their son’s best friend and they are best friends as well. It Cast: Robin Wright, Naomi tells a women story with all their friendships, husbands, relationships, Watts, Ben Mendelsohn, Xavier sons and lovers. The film was set in Australia, so, the other main pecu- Samuel, Sophie Lowe, James liarity is the location. Frecheville and others. Genre: Drama. CHANNEL ONE Russian Channel One acquired broadcasting rights for drama series House of Cards (USA, 2013) from international distributor Sony Pic- tures Television (SPT), which has also struck an SVoD deal in the ter- ritory of Russia with digital platform Yota. The series was produced by American provider of on-demand Internet streaming media Netflix that launched House of Cards in UK, Ireland, North America, Latin America and the Nordics at the beginning of February. In countries where Net- flix doesn’t operate, broadcasters and online platforms have to pick up the series from SPT as did Canal+ (France), Sky Deutschland (Ger- many), Zon (Portugal), Digiturk (Turkey), Hot and Yes (Israel).

House of Cards is the story of Frank Underwood, an ambitious Demo- Cast: Kevin Spacey, Michael cratic congressman and the House Majority Whip. Following his assis- Gill, Robin Wright, Michael Kelly, tance in ensuring the election of President Garrett Walker, Underwood Kristen Connolly, Sakina Jaffrey is informed by Chief of Staff Linda Vasquez that the existing agree- and others. ment to appoint him Secretary of State will not be honored. Furious at Duration: 13 x 60 min. Walker’s betrayal, Underwood and his wife Claire, an environmental Genre: Drama. activist, begin seeking out pawns in a protracted political war against Walker.

DARO Monaco-based independent distribution company Daro Film Distri- bution made a deal with American sales-company Premiere Enter- tainment Group on distribution of The Outsider (USA, 2013). Daro acquired rights for Eastern Europe and CIS. The film is in the postpro- duction. It was also sold to VVS for Canada, DDDream for China, Eagle for the Middle East, Polarstar for Latin America.

The Outsider centers on a British military contractor Lex Walker who is Director: Brian A Miller. told his daughter has died. When he arrives in Los Angeles and discov- Cast: James Caan, Shannon ers the body is not hers, he begins an investigation. Elizabeth, Craig Fairbrass, Johnny Messner, Melissa Ord- way and others. WEST Genre: Action, crime, drama. Russian independent film distributor West acquired rights for fantasy adventure Blood Sisters for CIS territories from film financing, pro- duction, sales and distribution company IM Global (has offices in Los Angeles, London and Mumbai). The deal was closed at European Film Market (EFM) in Berlin. And it was one of the numerous. US rights were

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picked up by The Weinstein Company. IM Global licensed rights in the UK and Canada (eOne), Germany (Universum), France (Metropoli- tan), Australia and New Zealand (Hoyts), CIS (West), Benelux (DFW), Latin America (Sun), Scandinavia (Nordisk) and Spain (Aurum). Deals also closed in Switzerland (Frenetic), Portugal (Lusomundo), Bulgari (Tandem), Czech and Slovak (Hollywood), Poland (ITI), Croatia, Ser- bia, Montenegro, Macedonia and Bosnia (Padora), Hong Kong (Inter- continental), Indonesia (PT Amero), Philippines (Pioneer), Thailand (M Pictures) and South Africa (Ster Kinekor).

The project is in pre-production. Shooting is scheduled to commence Director: Mark Waters. in early summer. Such companies as Preger Entertainment, Angry Cast: Zoey Deutch, Danila Ko- Films and Kintop Pictures are engaged. Reliance Entertainment and IM zlovskiy, Lucy Fry. Global are co-financing the production. Blood Sisters to be released Genre: Fantasy, adventure. worldwide in February 2014. It is supposed to be franchise based on the six‐volume Richelle Mead young adult novel series that chronicles the life of 17-year-old Rosemarie Hathaway, a dhampir - half human/ Mark Waters vampire, and her best friend Vasilisa Dragomir belonging to the race of peaceful, mortal vampires – Moroi. They are brought back to their school, St. Vladimir’s Academy, after running away two years previ- ously. On returning, Guardian Dimitri Belikov, who was the leader of the team of guardians sent to retrieve the two, is assigned to be Lissa’s guardian as she is a princess of Moroi.

Media Resources Management. 22 Zakrevsky St., Kiev 02660, Ukraine 20 www.mrm.ua Tel.: +380 (44) 459-4610; e-mail: [email protected] CINEMA RELEASES OVERVIEW C CINEMA RELEASES OVERVIEW №11 February 22, 2013

UKRAINIAN THEATRICAL DISTRIBUTION MARKET OVERVIEW

(NOVEMBER 29, 2012 – FEBRUARY 3, 2013)

Theatrical releases of 56 films took place in Ukraine in the period of November 29, 2012 – February 3, 2013. The gross box-office of these films totaled $20 million. 3.4 million tickets were sold for the premieres of the new theatrical year. At the same time films released before November 29, 2012 starting from December collected $2.8 million with almost one million admissions. So the total Ukrainian theatrical box-office amounts to $22.8 million. 4.4 million people visited cinemas during two month.

TOP-20 releases collected $21.1 million – 92.5% of the total amount. 89% of the cinema-goers – more than 3.9 million – bought tickets to watch the films you see in the table below.

Premier weekend Box Total Box Office 29.11.2012 - № Title Distributor Release date Tickets sold Office, $ 03.02.2013, $

1 The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey KNM 19.12.2012 1 388 677 4 029 210 557 477 2 Life of Pi UFD 01.01.2013 822 160 2 418 055 342 590 Three Warriors on Far Shores / Tri 3 GK 27.12.2012 507 697 2 392 851 522 900 bogatyria na dalnikh beregakh (Rus) 4 Jungle / Dzhungli (Rus) GK 29.11.2012 698 186 1 473 419 254 894 5 Anna Karenina B&H 01.01.2013 535 537 1 251 502 243 977 6 Rise of the Guardians* B&H 22.11.2012 631 611 1 130 642* 229142* 7 Django Unchained B&H 17.01.2013 403 835 955 856 142 318 8 Hansel and Gretel Witch Hunters B&H 31.01.2013 922 501 922 501 140 474 Mommies / S Novym godom, mamy! 9 GK 27.12.2012 193 900 822 208 164 087 (Rus) Gentlemen Of Fortune / Dzhentelmeny, 10 AVR 27.12.2012 174 929 803 908 152 137 udachi!(Rus) 11 Jack Reacher B&H 10.01.2013 337 941 687 121 137 508 12 Backer-up / Dubler (Rus) GK 10.01.2013 328 196 643 993 128 983 The Snow Queen / Snezhnaya Koroleva 13 AVR 01.01.2013 371 668 627 067 124 373 (Rus) Solovey the Bandit / Solovey-Raz- 14 AVR 22.11.2012 433 376 557 559* 119 624* boynik* (Rus) The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - 15 UFD 15.11.2012 1 605 724 543 658* 368 541* Part 2* 16 Flight B&H 06.12.2012 240 286 488 210 94 302 17 Playing for Keeps UFD 06.12.2012 192 090 422 069 87 521 18 Ticket to Vegas / Bilet na Vegas (Rus) AVR 24.01.2013 179 343 337 698 32 704 19 Cloud Atlas* B&H 08.11.2012 658 937 318 729* 137 157* 20 Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away B&H 27.12.2012 47 326 315 237 51 259 TOTAL ТОP-20: 21 141 493 3 937 666

Sources: boxofficemojo.com, Ukrainian Film Distribution * films released before November 29, 2012, box-office and admissions over a period of November 29, 2012 – February 3, 2013

Distributors: AVR – Aurora Film B&H – B&H Distribution GK – Galeon Kino KNM – Kinomania UFD – Ukrainian Film Distribution

CNG - Cinergy GK – Galeon Kino IF - Inter Film KNM - Kinomania UFD - Ukrainian Film Distribution

Media Resources Management. 22 Zakrevsky St., Kiev 02660, Ukraine 21 www.mrm.ua Tel.: +380 (44) 459-4610; e-mail: [email protected] FOCUS C FOCUS №11 February 22, 2013

Television markets in such Central Asia countries as Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan differ a lot from the points of view of their volume, number of broadcasters, TV-content production facilities and trends of FOCUS development. TV markets in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, for instance, are just starting to evolve and inte- grate into global TV tendencies. From the other hand Kazakh TV industry is rather powerful and already meets all the requirements of modern TV world and represents all the main trends of global TV market. In this article we’ll give a short analysis of these three CIS territories from the point of view of current situation TV MARKETS IN on their television markets. TAJIKISTAN, UZBEKISTAN, Tajikistan AND KAZAKHSTAN TV industry in Tajikistan is the least developed among other CIS countries but for Turkmenistan, which is the only one “closed for the others’ eyes” market of the region with only 5 TV state-owned channels and without private TV stations at all. According to the TV and Radio Broadcasting committee of Tajikistan there are totally 57 TV stations in the country, 17 of which are private and the others are state-owned ones. The main distinctive feature of the local TV market is absolute dominance of regional and local TV broad- casters (the majority of local TV channels are operating in the province of Sughd (one of 4 administrative divisions of Tajikistan situated on the north of the country).

Currently there are only four national-wide TV stations in Tajikistan that cover more than two thirds of the state territory by means of terrestrial and satellite distribution. They are: First Channel Tajikistan (99.7% coverage), TV Safina (77.4%), Chahonnamo (75.7%), and Bakhoriston TV (72.1%). All of these TV chan- nels are state-owned. Nationwide private broadcasters absence is the main obstacle of the country TV in- dustry development. Local authorities actually stopped issuing new broadcasting licenses in 1999 – from that time and till the beginning of 2013 only one TV channel was “awarded” by TV license – it was private NTT channel (stands for Independent Television of Tajikistan) which started broadcasting in summer 2007 and covers with its signal the capital of the state Dushanbe and its suburbs.

TV advertising market in Tajikistan is rather small – less than $10 million (the population of the country nears 7.4 million people, there are approximately 2 million households). Out of 2 million television households, 1.5 million households rely on the terrestrial platform for their primary television reception while 500,000 households rely on satellite. Dominance of the state-owned channels on the market prevents the substantial growth of advertising industry in the country. This is also one of the main reasons of poor TV content produc- tion– there are neither local series nor local adaptations of the international TV formats on the Tajik TV.

Situation may change after analogue terrestrial signal switch off – it is planned for mid 2015. DTT-signal transmission first started in May 2010 in Dushanbe in DVB-T, MPEG-4 standard. In 2011-2012 DTT be- came available in three more regions of the country. Nowadays Tajikistan is implementing DVB-T2 stan- dard. Currently four abovementioned nationwide TV channels are available in the first DTT-multiplex. Overall two terrestrial multiplexes, which will include 20 channels, are planned. Uzbekistan For the number of TV households TV market of Uzbekistan is more than twice bigger than one of Tajikistan – there are about 4.7 million households and 7.4 million television sets in use in the country. The terrestrial platform is used by 81% (near 3.8 million) of all television households. Cable and satellite television de- livery platforms are becoming increasingly popular with viewers and account for 10-15% and 4-5% of all television households, respectively.

Although a government decree officially eliminated state censorship in 2002, independent media are still severely restricted. In 2006 authorities further tightened state control by requiring re-registration of all media outlets not passing a summary review of qualifications. In 2012 almost 40 independent private tele- vision stations and 9 state-owned regional TV channels were operating in Tajikistan, but four state-owned television stations, run by the Television and Radio Company of Uzbekistan, dominated the market. They are: Ozbekiston, Yoshlar, Sport TV and Tashkent. The biggest and the most popular private TV channels in Uzbekistan are: Markaz TV, NTT, Forum TV and SofTC.

TV advertising evolves rapidly in Uzbekistan. Its volume last year reached $50-55 million, and its annual growth is forecasted for further few years at the 12-15% level. TV content production is just starting to develop in the country. The main producers of TV series and TV movies are state-owned Uzbektelefilm and Uzbekkino companies. In the last two years some private productions and TV stations started shooting lo- cal series and TV shows (no international TV formats are yet officially adapted in Uzbekistan).

In June 2008, the first DTT pilot project in central Asia was launched in Tashkent - the capital city of Uz- bekistan. Viewers could access 8 standard-definition television services using MPEG-4 AVC compres- sion technology. In September 2008, the further multiplex was launched offering viewers in Tashkent and

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Bukhara access to four government-owned television services. Regular DTT broadcasting started in Sep- tember 2009 offering 12 DTT channels (the services are a mixture of 4 government-owned and 8 commer- cial pay-DTT channels). Currently DTT-multiplexes cover near 42% population of the country. Kazakhstan Kazakhstan is ranked as the ninth largest country in the world, but its population is only 15.9 million people. The total number of TV households is estimated to be 4.2 million while the total number of television sets in use is approximately 4.6 million. The analogue terrestrial television platform is the primary television deliv- ery platform for 86% of television households. Approximately 600 villages do not have access to analogue terrestrial television signals. Cable is used by 12% of the population, satellite TV penetration reaches for now up to 5% of the market while first IPTV service was launched in the capital city Astana in February 2009 by the broadcast network operator Kazakhtelecom (IPTV penetration in the country now is less than 1%).

Kazakhstan has significant potential for further growth in the television advertising market and is the third largest among the countries in the region after Russia and Ukraine. TV advertising in Kazakhstan reached more than $420 million in 2012.

Television viewership is remarkably high among young audiences, with viewers younger than 35 years old comprising nearly half of the total television audience in the country. Kazakhstan-1 is the most popular state-owned television channel of Kazakhstan. Other popular national-wide state-owned television sta- tions are Khabar and El Arna. According to government statistics there are 116 private channels, and the most popular among them are Perviy Kanal Evraziya, KTK, and Russian CTC Media owned Kanal 31.

In Kazakhstan feature movies production is rather developed mostly due to the government-owned Ka- zakhfilm company. In terms of TV content production this country is also evolving rapidly. For instance, in 2011-2012 there were more than 10 local TV series and more than 20 local TV shows produced. Kazakh TV stations already adapted such international TV formats as The X Factor, Pop Idol, Operación Triunfo, The Money Drop, Strictly Come Dancing, I Love My Country etc.

Digital Terrestrial Television implementation in DVB-T2 standard started in Kazakhstan in summer 2012. Currently more than 370 towns and villages of the country (3.5 million of people) are covered be DTT signal. The state planes to deploy 7 digital multiplexes and complete the analogue switch-off process till mid 2015.

Author: Artem Vakalyuk, Media Resources Management, Ukraine

P.S.

Data on TV ratings and share of the TV channels in Uzbekistan and Tajikistan is not available because of the absence of national-wide TV researches in these countries. TV Shr Kazakhstan, December 2012, % (all 6+)

31,04 35

30

25

20 14,75 13,07 9,75 15 8,18 5,3 10 4,08 3,75 2,47 1,58 1,25 5

0

Data: TNS Gallup Media Asia

Media Resources Management. 22 Zakrevsky St., Kiev 02660, Ukraine 23 www.mrm.ua Tel.: +380 (44) 459-4610; e-mail: [email protected] INTERVIEW INTERVIEW C INTERVIEW №11 February 22, 2013

Alexey Fedorchenko is a well-known Russian filmmaker, who specializes on shooting auteur festival mov- ies. His titles Silent Souls, David, First on the Moon, etc. won a score of awards at the top international INTERVIEW festivals. In an exclusive interview to Content Report Alexey Fedorchenko told about his plans, about the companies working exclusively on the festival films and the reasons why do the Russian cinemagoers pre- fer US action blockbusters to the Russian comedies, pirated copies of which they watch at home. To our great joy it appeared that still there are directors who treat film industry as an art rather than a business. ALEXEY FEDORCHENKO: Please, tell us about the projects you currently work on, especially about the feature films Angels “WE CAN’T EARN A LOT and Revolution and Space Mowgli. When will you release them? As far as we know Angels and Revolution received the government subsidy – what are the financing proportions? ON THE FESTIVAL FILMS, BUT I DON’T WANT TO DO It happened so that currently I’m working on two projects simultaneously. The first one is Angels and Revolution based on Denis Osokin book of the same name. Denis is a writer who I have been working with ANYTHING ELSE” lately. When Angels are done, I will start shooting The Kid [aka Space Mowgli] based on a novel of Stru- gatsky brothers. Its tentative title was Operation Mowgli when Strugatsky started to work on it. Angels and Revolution and Space Mowgli are in a preproduction now – the script is being written for both of them. We bought the rights for The Kid last year, when Boris Natanovych [Strugatsky] was still alive. As for grants, Angels received support from the Ministry of Culture, and The Kid – from the Russian Cinema Fund. The state will provide with 30–50% of production budgets, the rest is up to private investors.

What do you think about the Russian Cinema Fund activities? What is your attitude towards the old funds allocation scheme approved by the Cinema Fund to finance not the specific films but the leading prodcos instead?

Actually, I didn’t understand that scheme perfectly. My The 29th February Film company is not on the list of “major” companies, but still, we did get the money. I suppose the old scheme will be canceled in the nearest future – it didn’t prove to be working.

How can you explain the fact that even with this new allocation scheme the market share of the Russian movies continues to fall? What should be done by the film companies or the government itself to change this trend?

The viewer had been habituated to watch US movies. To make them go and watch the Russian ones we Alexey Fedorchenko have to teach them from the cradle. In the past our children used to watch Spokoynoy nochi, malyshi! evening show every Saturday. Every Saturday at the same time. They wanted a cartoon, but it was not the cartoon why they did it actually – it was the tradition. Our films were the vital element of education and par- enting. But they are no longer – the Soviet-made animation has vanished and the films that have been shot during the last 20 years can only be seen on the festivals. Still, it makes no sense to chase the Hollywood and try to copy its ideas. Transformers will always be better than Black Lightning.

What happened to Mertvie Pashni project, which took part in the pitching held within the frame- work of XXIII Kinotavr?

Our company is well-known in the festival sphere, but we want to occupy some niches in the commercial film industry. That’s why we are still working on the script for Mertvie Pashni. The project is graphics, very interesting and unusual. This will be an adaptation of Mikhail Klikin novel of the same name. We don’t want to hurry trying to idealize the script. Locations have not been chosen yet, but I think we won’t move too far from Yekaterinburg.

Do you rent equipment or The 29th February Film Co. has its own technical basis?

We have our own equipment. It is enough to produce, for example, a TV series. There are also no problems Mikchail Klikin with the rent, so you can shoot wherever you want – Russia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, USA or China. The planet had become so small. It’s very simple.

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What lessons did you learn from the co-production with the foreign colleagues? What is the dif- ference between theirs and ours approach? Did you face any complications?

Last year American producers from Grolsch Film Works | VICE offered me to take part in their The Fourth Dimension project. It was an international film almanac consisting of three novels, each half an hour long, which should have been made by the Russian, American and Polish directors correspondingly. Curiously enough, there were no complications at all and I really loved to work on it. I learnt a lot. The film proved to be the great job done by the producer, story editor and assistant director. We don’t have that – story edi- tors completely disappeared in Russia. But working abroad you always have the man to assist. I used to have a proofread and professionally analyzed material the same day I sent it in USA. And what is the most important – they do not give you orders, just some pieces of advice. I mean I could choose – to do what they say or not to do. I liked that very much. We are competitive in terms of equipment, but not in story editing right on the film set.

Doing business in festival film industry, have you ever thought about producing TV content or movies for cinema distribution?

There are some ideas. The Kid is B movie and simultaneously we are working on a TV series based on a book of Strugatsky. But I won’t tell which one.

What festival achievements are you most proud of?

There are many awards and I do really have my favorites. They are: my first Stockholm Film Festival Grand Prix for documentary David, Venice Horizons Documentary Award for First on the Moon and a quite unex- pected award for Silent Souls – Abu Dhabi Film Festival’s Black Pearl.

Modern companies fall into two categories: the first one focused on the production of TV con- tent, the second produce films for cinema distribution. There is small number of those working on the festival movies. What is it for you? Is it for the love to art? It’s rather difficult to make money on the festival movies... Strugatsky brothers Yes, we can’t earn a lot on the festival films, but I don’t want to do anything else. Of course we can make series or ‘one-weekend’ films, but it is so boring, just don’t want to waste my life on that. I like what I’m doing and I want to go on. To me it is the best and the most interesting job. By the way, I’d like to mention that our company doesn’t operate at a loss.

Is there any lack of the qualified HR on the market generally and in your company particularly?

We have a good fully formed crew. We teach and train people ourselves – on set.

What about the distribution of films you produce?

I wish each our project was commercial-oriented. Any work should be paid for. For example, Silent Souls did well when released in Russia. It earned about $650.000 in 30 territories [about two thirds in Russia] including USA, Australia, Switzerland and Brazil. It had been released on 40 copies in France and 42 in Italia. To me, this project is worth to be envied.

How did you manage to do that? Does your company have its own distribution arm?

No, we don’t. Igor Mishin, Silent Souls producer was the one who released the film, and actually it was very strange distribution. Igor had to decide on the cinemas himself, because this kind of films is definitely not for one weekend release. For instance, one copy had been in release for three months.

Distributors don’t want to have anything to deal with such films, but Silent Souls proved that our festival movies can and moreover – must – be shown in the cinema. In Russia are focused on big cities with two or three cinemas for auteur films screenings such as Salyut in Yekaterinburg, Pioner in Moscow and Pobeda in Novosibirsk. These theaters have been educating their own (and ours) audience for years, so they were the best choice to show our movies.

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ploringAre you some pleased specific with issue. the Russian results p ofrojects your can’t last movieafford it. Nebesnye For example, Zheny Russian Lugovykh produce Mrari?s may How ask me did toviewers make the and ocean critics like accept they saw it? it in The Perfect Storm (2000). And I have to explain them that a group of 100 programmers described the behavior of physical phenomenon during a year. Then the results of their workI’m very wer pleased.e set into Filmthe interfaceturned out of tothe be p rauthenticogram that and cr eatedvery interesting. such a storming It is early ocean. days And yet the to speakfunds spentabout forthe the viewer resea – ractually,ches are there equal was to the only whole one screening budget of – Russian world premiere project. on the Rome Film festival (November 2012 – edit.). Film received positive reviews in Italy and France. And Vatican official newspaper claimed CGFNebesnye closely Z henycooperates Lugovykh with M ariTimur to be Bekmambetov the best festival who film invested of the year heavily. The infilm the is booked-upFilmLanguage by the fes- (Kinoyazyk)tivals for the technolog whole 2013.y. Do Still, you no take one part saw in it inthe Russia researches – we areof his in talkscompany with theBazelevs? distributors. Can’t wait to show it! We do cooperate with Bazelevs in some researches. But this cooperation is rather sketchy. Actually we do notWhat delve are into your the plans stud yfor. As the for nextthe FilmLanguage year? What willI know you that work Bazelevs on? have some results that are different from the declared objectives but still… We’ve got a pretty rich script slate. I had been filling it up for several years, and now there are five excellent Therestories is waiting information to be inshot. the And Web some that ofyou them are are going in development to launch your already. own Theprojects script as must a produce have spice.r. Is Its Alexey Fedorchenko thatstorytelling true? should be unusual in terms of the language, the story, the turning points etc. And it should not be cliched and novelettish. I have some ideas. I have knowledge and skills that would be sufficient to launch a project. And the com- pany is strong enough to realize it. We just need to try and move on if it works.

In the nearest future we’ll decide on the range of projects that would be interesting to work on. At the same time we are going to separate company’s activity as a producer from providing postproduction services which is our core business. Most likely postproduction department will accomplish orders for our projects otherwise there will be a risk of failing in both areas. Alexander Gorokhov

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