Evgenia Markova, Roskino CEO
Russian content is expanding around the world in part because under the Roskino umbrella, Russian companies have exhibited its flagship projects in international markets such us Toronto International Film Festival and Venice Film Festival.
The 46th Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) takes place from the 9th to the 18th of September 2021 and supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and the Russian Cinema Fund, Roskino organizes an online booth Roskino – Russian Content Wolrdwide at the TIFF Industry platform. The booth unites and represents the Russian content industry and leading Russian companies, such as All Media, Art Pictures Distribution, Central Partnership, Planeta Inform, Mirsand Ltd., Riki Group, Mars Media Entertainment, Sovtelexport Distribution Company, IGMAR, 5 Channel and many others.
Evgenia Markova, Roskino CEO: “The mission of Roskino is to achieve recognition of Russian content at the global market. That is why we put our efforts into systematic promotion of the latest Russian art and commercial films and series at the international film festivals and markets. Toronto is important to us as an opportunity to present our content in North America. Unfortunately, due to the fact that the borders are closed, Russian presence at the film market this year is virtual. Nevertheless, it is very impressive. More than 20 Russian companies will present their latest projects, and we hope that all of them will be highly rated by foreign partners”.
On the other hand, at the Venice International Film Festival took place Focus On Russia and for the first time, the festival became a platform of professional Russian-Italian communication at the industry level. The parties discussed new measures of state support in both countries, opportunities of non-governmental financing, trends on the international co-production market, an experience of Russia and Italy in coproduction, a new role of VOD-platforms in global distribution of content and their potential for promotion of coproduction projects.
Co-Production: New Opportunities
The main topics of Focus On Russia were co-production strategies, investments between Russia and Italy and Russia’s domestic content market from the perspective of international collaboration. The countries have many points of contact and a wide experience of co-production: from the first collaborations of Soviet period – “The Red Tent” by Mikhail Kalatozov, “Nostalgia” by Andrei Tarkovsky, “Dark Eyes” by Nikita Mikhalkov – to the modern large-scale co-production projects such as “Sin” by Andrei Konchalovsky. However, the geographical distance, the lack of a systematic dialogue and the lack of transparency of the Russian market made the co-production difficult. Now the situation is changing: the representatives of Italian industry see openness to the partnership of Russian colleagues as well as measures of state support of the co-production in Russia.
Evgenia Markova commented: "The business program initiated by Roskino in partnership with Anica Servizi was eventful and fruitful, it became the first dialogue between our industry representatives for many years and judging by the feedback and enthusiasm of Russian and Italian colleagues we succeeded in laying the foundation of strong relations and planning the steps of future interaction. I am happy that this program is organized at the moment when Russian producers are ready for the cooperation with Italy and the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation initiates a large-scale program of co-production support. We have a rich history of Russian-Italian relations in the field of cinematography, and we hope that this interaction will contribute to the revival of the cooperation. I would like to express my special thanks to the colleagues from Anica Servizi for their instant reaction to our initiative of organizing the dialogue of industries precisely at the platform of the Venice Film Festival".