Russian Cinema Fund to double to £100m by 2017

The Russian government plans to double state film funding over the next three years, Minister of Culture Vladimir Medinsky has announced. Speaking at a press conference in December on the reforms h has undertaken at the Ministry of Culture, Medinsky said that the state-funded Russian Cinema Fund could double the size of its £55m budget if commercial films financed by the fund returned a higher percentage of their profits. In addition to the Russian Cinema Fund, the Ministry of Culture has its own budget of around £50m with which to finance films.

The Russian Cinema Fund was set up in 2009 to provide funding to eight chosen production companies on the condition that they would make commercial films that would return a percentage of their profits to the fund. Since then, a number of films have bombed while others have gone on to be commercial successes including the Yolki franchise of romantic comedies. In 2013, Soviet ice hockey thriller Legend No. 17 and wedding comedy Gorko! bought in strong box office returns.

Medinsky also commented on the failure of Fedor Bondarchuk’s epic war film Stalingrad to reach the foreign language Oscar longlist. He said: “You can’t hope for anything because the film didn’t make any mention of the Americans’ Lend-Lease Act, pay any attention to the USA’s role in the victory over the Nazis and the choice of actors wasn’t sufficiently politically correct… The Oscars are a extremely politicised affair.”

The announcement about the boost in funding follows a recent move by Medinsky to rein in control of state financing of films by ensuring that only productions “in line with the government’s strategic goals” receive funding. This includes films in certain genres such as military, patriotic and historical dramas as well as those targeting children and teenagers.