Russia’s first virtual content market, Key Buyers Event: Digital edition, hosted a panel discussion on the state support of creative industries export, and the speakers spilled on resuming film production in Moscow. The discussion featured CEO of Roskino, Evgenia Markova; Deputy Minister of Culture of Russian Federation, Maxim Ksenzov; Head of Moscow Department of Entrepreneurship and Innovations, Alexei Fursin; Senior VP of “Russian Export Center” and CEO at EXIAR; Nikita Gusakov; and Head of Moskino, Moscow film commission, Svetlana Maximchenko.
Maxim Ksenzov said that the Mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, has answered to the Ministry’s call to resume film production in the capital. Therefore, Russian industry has now went back to normal and aims to keep creating content slate for both domestic and international markets, as the past few years saw a breakthrough of the national industry on the global scale.
“The content Russia offers now is different from that of several years ago. Production value is growing annually, which is proven by the figures. International box-office of Russian films tripled within the last four years, with over 90 titles theatrically released outside Russia in 2019. National content travels across over 120 countries vs. 23 a couple of years ago, with 25% year-on-year growth in international sales before pandemic. Turning Russia into a transparent and reliable partner for international companies is one of our major goals,” Evgenia Markova said.
Furthermore, Moscow Film Commission is going to resume working with international film crews. Since being founded in 2018, the company assisted over 900 shootings, including “Yesterday,” by Danny Boyle, and HBO’s “Chernobyl”. “We always welcome both national and global producers to film in Moscow, ready to assist in organizing filming locations and arranging all the formalities. We are happy to get back to work before the end of June,” Svetlana Maximchenko commented.
Later in the day, after the discussion, the Moscow's Mayor also confirmed that lockdown, including ban on filming, ended in on June 9. Since that date, filming is allowed under condition of following the safety regulations. Cinema halls, however, stay closed.