Season Screen TV Review 2015 № 3

SSTR

2015

www.mkmediagroup.tv

Season Screen TV Review

“Battle for Sevastopol”: breakthrough in the national filmmaking

Interview with director Sergei Mokritsky and producer Egor Olesov

NEWS, BROADCASTING, SALES NEWS, INTERVIEW, MEDIA REPORTS

ISSUE 3, AUGUST 2015

one woman who changed the world

BASED ON THE TRUE STORY

YULIYA PERESILD

JOHN BLACKHAM

EVGENIY TSYGANOV

VITALIY LINETSKIY

CONTENTS

CONTENTS 4 6

EDITORIAL MEDIA NEWS Analytical

10

LET THEM HEAR YOUR VOICE: REGIONAL FILMMAKING Analyzing film industries of Ukraine, Russia and Baltic, CIS and MENA states.

Experts Talking

THE MENA FILM MARKET AT A GLANCE

17

Adham Nasrallah, Safe Media, about peculiarities of MENA countries’ film industries.

Interview

“BATTLE FOR SEVASTOPOL”: BREAKTHROUGH IN THE NATIONAL FILMMAKING

22

Interview with director Sergei Mokritsky and producer Egor Olesov

Report

MK-DISTRIBUTION AT WCM 2015 AND NATPE 2015

26

Trip blog: media impressions

Media Facts

TOP 5 MOST BEAUTIFUL FILMING LOCATIONS IN THE WORLD

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EDITORIAL

EDITOR’S NOTE By now Hollywood dictates the rules of the global market. And it’s not surprising - in terms of the number of films produced each year and those grossed billions of dollars, the U.S. is firmly on top. Other states are trying to overtake the most dominant and recognizable film industry in the world, but, still, it seems to be a tough challenge.

In Season Screen TV Review we write about hard-to-reach territories – CIS, Baltic and MENA countries, which film industries obviously are far from being as productive as Hollywood. Yet, little by little these states are trying to step up their presence in global cinema market.

Katerina Dmitrieva CEO, MK Media Group

In this issue we are going to analyze their paths and discover the challenges faced, great strides made, failures, successes, new projects and plans for future.

It’s time to find out what it’s like to make films in Ukraine and Russia, CIS, Baltic and MENA states.

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NEWS BBC considering move to make news channel online only. Following a similar cost-cutting move for BBC3 TV channel, the company is considering to make BBC news channel online only. Work had already started on assessing the impact of making the news channel online only before the government unveiled a surprise license fee settlement on Monday in which the BBC would have to shoulder the full £750m cost of free licenses for people aged over 75 by 2020. The BBC News channel is the most-watched 24-hour news channel in the UK, with 8.6 million adults’ weekly audience. But outside the country the channel’s audience has fallen during the last three years. So, the channel’s directors decided to move online. The technology is transforming, and it is changing the way people get breaking news.

Eutelsat sets to launch new MENA satellite. Eutelsat Communications sets to launch its latest satellite, which will provide the capacity required to accelerate the deployment of high definition television services to the Middle East and North Africa regions. The Eutelsat 8 West B satellite will be located at 7/8 degrees West and will further strength this position as the hotspot for television broadcasts across the region from Morocco to the Gulf. Eutelsat 8 West B is delivered to the Ariane launch site in mid-July and launched on 18 August. It will go into full commercial service on October, 1st following its performance validation in space. It is carrying 30 Ku-band transponders with capacity for 180 more HD channels.

EU project spotlights Arab women filmmakers. Arab women filmmakers will be one of the key priorities in new European Union initiative (the MedFilm Program) for the South Mediterranean countries from Morocco to Syria. The Program will be financed under the auspices of the European Neighborhood Instrument, with €4.5m coming from EU funds and €875,000 from third parties’ contributions. The operations will start from next year.

MedFilm’s key activities will be to promote participation and involvement of women in the film industry and support the access of films to the market, both South-South and across the Mediterranean. In addition, the new initiative will “fight stereotypes, including gender ones, through fostering the films exchange across the Mediterranean; and promote free expression by allowing film makers to cover sensitive issues on a regional level. Thus they will be combating traditional and new forms of censorship”. The program will include feature films, documentaries, animation, TV series and soap operas.

IPTV expands reach to nine Arab countries. IPTV is now provided by 14 telcos in nine countries across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), with the Gulf being the leading adopter, according to the Arab Advisors Group.

Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE all now have IPTV, which is in its initial stage of penetration to the Arab world, the Amman-based research company says. Among nine countries in the Arab World offering commercial IPTV services, Bahrain had the largest number of IPTV providers with three providers available in the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia and the UAE followed with two service providers each. As broadband Internet expands over MENA region, IPTV adoption is increasing. The competition among IPTV service providers in the same country drives its offered features into frequent upgrades, which makes the user’s TV viewing experience more interactive.

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NEWS Discovery Communications agrees to take full control on Eurosport.

Discovery Communications announced an agreement to acquire the entire ownership of Eurosport (the leading sports channels group in Europe and Asia) for €491 million from TF1 Group.

Since May 2014, Discovery and Eurosport have acquired more than 7,500 hours of coverage – with more than 3,300 of that live – more than 50 properties signed per year. From UEFA Champions League, Europa League expanding on Wimbledon in Belgium and FIFA Women’s World Cup across Europe to Moto GP in Germany, Belgium and Netherlands. These new rights strengthen the Eurosport channels and bring the most compelling sporting events to local fans everywhere.

In June, Discovery/Eurosport won the TV and multiplatform rights for the Olympic Games from 2018 to 2024, reinforcing Eurosport as the home of Olympic sports all year long. The agreement allows more European sport fans to access the games on more platforms and screens than ever before.

Weinstein, ITV board Russian mob drama “Mafiya”. The Weinstein Company (TWC) and ITV Studios Global Entertainment have teamed up to make a 10-part gangster series “Mafiya” set amid the fall of the U.S.S.R. The mob series will follow the life of a character named Misha, who rises from street trader to one of the richest and most powerful individuals in the country.

The program, set to go into production next year, was also developed in association with the BBC and Monumental Pictures, where ITV Studios bought a stake earlier this year.

New Ukrainian DTH-platform. Ukraine may shortly see the launch of a new DTH platform operated by the Ukrainian telecommunication company Datagroup. Aleksandr Danchenko, Datagroup’s former CEO, now an MP, said that as the Ukrainian market has few DTH providers, he is currently negotiating with a number of satellite operators on the establishment of a national DTH service.

The details of the negotiations are not disclosed yet, but, according to preliminary information, the results will be announced in September.

Datagroup has worked with satellite operator Eutelsat for a number of years and now is planning the broadcast via a new satellite Eutelsat 9B, that is scheduled to launch in the orbital position 9 ° E. this year.

Levira inks play-out deal with Kids Network in Baltics. The Estoniabased company Levira has entered into a three-year agreement with Kids Network Television for play-out for two HD channels, Filmzone and Filmzone+, and their distribution in Baltic pay-TV networks.

Indrek Lepp, Director of Levira’s Media Services Division, said: “With a great pleasure we enter cooperation with Kids Network Television to help them to extend their business on Baltic markets. We are aimed to provide viewers in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania with great content and positive emotion”.

Pay-TV channels are spreading in the region. In particular, recently Film Box Channel arrived in Latvia.

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1st season - 13x13 min, 2015, HD

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ANALYTICAL | LET THEM HEAR YOUR VOICE: REGIONAL FILMMAKING

LET THEM HEAR YOUR VOICE: WHAT IT’S LIKE MAKING FILMS IN UKRAINE, RUSSIA AND BALTIC, CIS AND MENA STATES Try to imagine for a second your life without films. Quite hard, isn’t it?

Since the invention of the cinematograph in 1892 the cinema has been growing steadily and eventually became indispensable part of our life. It is rightly called the art form of the 20th century. Being combination of art, literature and science, it invariably represents man and his life in society.

Still, it has its own peculiarities in every region of the world. Film industries depend on cultural background, audience claims, financial capacity, creativity of directors and a proper management. In this article we tried to analyze the film industries of Ukraine, Russia and Baltic, CIS, and MENA states: stages of development, position on the international market, most successful movies, key trends and further projects.

Ukraine

“Still, local market looks more like a confined space as the majority of Ukrainian films are produced only for the national market”.

Disregarding all the political and military events, Ukrainian film industry slowly approaches the point of breaking even. This is mostly caused by the demand of the audience for the national content.

Still, local market looks more like a confined space as the majority of Ukrainian films are produced only for the national market. However, in the past and present year there were released few movies that received recognition and positive feedback from public and critics abroad. Amid them are “Haitarma” (2014), “The Guide” (2014), “Battle for Sevastopol” (2015), “The Tribe” (2014). The most popular genres are dramas, comedies and war movies. After the Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity patriotic films about national heroes also gained popularity.

The state financing in Ukraine is anything but stable and is highly dependent on the general political and economic processes in the country.

The most thriving years for film industry were 2011-2013 when the state funding increased significantly (from $3,8 mln in 2010 to $16,4 mln in 2013). But in 2014 it was crucially cut down to only $2 mln. This year’s state funding is even poorer and equals $1,3 mln due to the country’s economic difficulties. Ukrainian film production now is a surviving sphere, but it indeed can produce good movies, with unexpected, not trivial plot, strong and mysterious characters and dramatic end.

In general, the overall share of domestic film distribution in Ukraine amounted to 5.8% in 2014. The box office of national films was 2.5%

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“Ukrainian film production now is a surviving sphere, but it indeed can produce good movies, with unexpected, not trivial plot, strong and mysterious characters and dramatic end”.

“The absolute breakthrough became the release of Miroslav Slaboshpitsky’s “The Tribe” in selected theaters all over the USA”.

of the total local box office. This year’s biopic about sniper Lyudmila Pavlichenko “Battle for Sevastopol” became the highest grossing domestic premiere in the history of Ukrainian film distribution and earned $70 000 in the first four days of exhibition, finishing second in the list of the biggest box-office for the weekend.

This movie has overtaken the previous record holder, last year’s historical drama “The Guide”.

Excessive percentage of Ukrainian films is co-production, although the mechanism is not modernized legislatively. A lot of successful films are co-produced with Russia. Also, Ukraine has the agreements on coproduction with Poland, France and Turkey. As for the last, it resulted in recently produced romantic drama “Love Me” (2015).

There were several releases made with Ukrainian co-finance which paid off and generated some profit. Among them are “Love in a big city 3” (2014), co-produced with Russia and a feature-length documentary “Maidan” (2015), co-produced with the Netherlands. The first one gained 5 times its budget in box offices, not taking into account the TV and online sales.

The absolute breakthrough became the release of Miroslav Slaboshpitsky’s “The Tribe” in selected theaters all over the USA starting from June 17th. The movie was picked by US distribution company Drafthouse Films. Luckily for producers, after premiere in New York the number of requests from cinemas for its exhibition has increased from 30 to 50.

Ukraine is eager to improve its cinematography and sees it as one of the best ways to promote the country on an international level. Now they are shooting a high-budget (as for the Ukrainian market) film “Tale of Оld Miller” - a first Ukrainian film in fantasy genre, fully budgeted by “Derzhkino” state organization. The movie will be released by the end of the year and is expected to compete with Walt Disney Pictures’ 2015 film “Cinderella”.

Russia “Russian Ministry of Culture and Cinema Fund are key institutions responsible for providing state financial support for production, distribution and promotion of the national cinema”.

Russian cinema is characterized by an abundance of films made mainly for the mass audience in criminal, comedy and historical genres. Nowadays, the number of domestic movies has increased comparatively to the last decade and its quality has also improved considerably. The most acclaimed film in 2014 was Oscar-nominated “Leviathan”; this year must-see list includes drama “Under the electric clouds”, co-produced with Ukraine and Poland, science fiction “Hardcore”, war drama “The Dawns Here Are ISSUE 3 AUGUST 2015 | SEASON SCREEN TV REVIEW | 11

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“Russia’s highest grossing film of all time “Stalingrad” by Fyodor Bondarchuk is a domestic movie that for the first time in decades dislodged Hollywood heavyweights on the Russian market”.

“Russian comedies, horror and war movies are favoured among the international audience”.

Quiet”, drama “Motherland” and historical drama “Two Women”.

Russian Ministry of Culture and Cinema Fund are key institutions responsible for providing state financial support for production, distribution and promotion of the national cinema. Moreover, it traditionally allocates money for debuts, auteur and experimental films. The share of government funding in Russian film industry is growing year by year and there are already 30 movies out on the screens this year supported by the state.

In Russia local movies are quite popular among viewers. In 2014 Russian films held 27% of market share in the domestic marketplace. Russia’s highest grossing film of all time “Stalingrad” by Fyodor Bondarchuk is a domestic movie that for the first time in decades dislodged Hollywood heavyweights on the Russian market. “Stalingrad” became the third Russian film collected to the foreign box office for more than $16 mln, and one of the domestic films which box office has exceeded $1 mln abroad.

Despite its membership in several international film organizations, Russia cannot be considered a full-fledged participant of the international co-production market. Although the number of projects with Russian participation has increased, so far no more than 10 films in co-production are produced annualy. According to the experts, it’s due to language barriers, legislative differences and lack of transparency in production process. Still, there are some successful examples of recent co-production, such as “Machete Kills” (Russia-USA, 2013), “Devil’s Pass” (Russia-USA, 2013), “Love in the Big City 3” (Russia-Ukraine, 2014).

Russian comedies, horror and war movies are favoured among the international audience. For example, low-budget horror film “Unfriended” (2015) produced by Timur Bekmambetov and directed by Leo Gabriadze gathered $16 mln in the opening weekend, and became third in the rank of US box office, according to the statistics of Box Office Mojo.

Russia plans to develop further its film industry and move towards an international level. The proof of that are three co-production films

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that scheduled to release in 2016, and 80 local ones including animation.

Among them are popular continuing franchises, such as “Yolky”, “8 best dates”, and “Women against men 2”.

Baltic countries

“All the Baltic countries have solid state financing that covers almost 50% of the movies each year”.

“In order to support their film industries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have recently signed an agreement launching a dynamic cooperation platform named “Baltic Films”.

All Baltic countries have a lot in common and, first of all, it’s the soviet past which had great impact on filmmaking industry and thus is highly reflected in movies. Starting from 2010 the countries began to evolve in a European way and it strongly influenced their film industries. The breakthrough in Lithuanian one came with the movie “Fireheart: The Legend of Tadas Blinda” (2011). It was the first movie that has grabbed both spectators’ and authorities’ attention. Latvia and Estonia also started to produce high quality feature films that became popular among local and partly international audience. There were 7 domestic feature films produced in Latvia, 6 in Estonia and 8 in Lithuania in 2014.

All the Baltic countries have solid state financing that covers almost 50% of the movies each year. The state funding has been increasing during the last 5 years and in 2015 it’s 7,3 mln EUR for Estonia, 5,3 mln EUR for Latvia and 3 mln EUR for Lithuania.

In 2014 the share of the national box office in Baltic countries was approximately 4-5%. The top box-office earners among domestic films were “Valentinas Behind the Doors” (402,241 EUR) in Lithuania, “Zero Point” (196,352 EUR) in Estonia and “Mother, I Love You” (110,465 EUR) in Latvia. Moreover, all these films were in the Top-10 highestgrossing films in the Baltic region along with foreign movies. But still, American production holds the largest share of the region’s market with 75-77%, followed by the European one with 10-12%.

In order to support their film industries Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have recently signed an agreement launching a dynamic cooperation platform named “Baltic Films”. It is an umbrella organisation aimed to promote their films worldwide and represent them at major film festivals and markets. The organization is supporting co-production projects as well. Baltic countries have already shown success in co-production – the examples are Lithuanian-Latvian “The Gambler” (2014) and LatvianEstonian “The Man in the Orange Jacket” (2014). Moreover, this year is the first ever case when filmmakers of all the Baltic States took on a joint project – they are shooting Kristijonas Vildžiūnas’ drama “Seneka‘s Day”.

Besides this, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are good at finding coproduction partners in Finland, Russia, France, Germany, Romania and Georgia. In 2015 there were released two co-production movies – Lithuania-France-Netherlands romantic drama “The Summer of Sangaile” and US-Estonian romantic horror “Spring”. The last one has achieved success worldwide and was №1 in iTunes horror films category in May. Another project, the tragicomedy “Magic Kimono” – the first-ever coproduction between Latvia, Estonia and Japan – will be shot in August.

The feature films from Baltic countries are often presented at international festivals, and from time to time some of them are nominated

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to Oscar and Golden Globe Awards. Thanks to this films are getting noticed by foreign distributors. 2014 drama “The Gambler” has been sold to Italy, France, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Animated US-Latvian co-production “Rocks in my pocket” has been sold to Poland.

From the beginning of 2015 Latvia has raised cash rebate levels and added 7.5 mln EUR in film funding. The National Film Centre of Latvia is supporting the following four international co-productions: “Out” (LatviaRussia), “Fishboy” (Latvia-Russia), “Traitor” (Latvia-UK), and “Tactic Wisdom” (Latvia-Finland). Lithuania recently started shooting feature film “Emilia” - a story about young actress who is trying to pursue her career in Soviet-occupied Lithuania. Estonia is about to release shortly “Ghost Mountaineer”, a youth film with elements of horror, and a futuristic sci-fi “Roukli”.

CIS countries

“Domestic films are ignored by most of the viewers and it can be explained by the lack of promotion and poor production quality”.

The film industry of almost all CIS states including Azerbaijan, Belarus, Moldova Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan is in very deep crisis. All have similar challenges – poor state financing, difficulties both with production and the following distribution, lack of producers, screenwriters and directors. Among all of them Kazakhstan may be considered as a top filmmaker. However, the country is focused solely on national content production.

State support of film industry in CIS countries is carried out through the Ministries of Culture, as well as organizations within specialized offices of the Ministries or directly regulated by the governments. Governmental support includes the partial or full budgeting of the projects or giving tax credits for film-making organizations. Still, the support is bad. In particular, the state funding of Moldovan film industry is nowadays at its lowest point. Yet there is a gleam of hope – in 2014 France and Germany made agreement with the Moldovan government to help the cinematography revival with financial support and joint projects.

Excessive percentage of films shown in movie theatres are those made either in Hollywood or in Russia. Domestic films are ignored by most of the viewers and it can be explained by the lack of promotion and poor production quality. Kazakhstan is the only exception. The most popular film with the biggest box-office there in 2014 was homemade “Kelinka Sabina” ($2 mln), which caused wide media debates and became a hot topic among Kazakh viewers and filmmakers.

This year Kazakhstan has already released 7 domestic feature films.

Belarus released 3 domestic feature films, one of which named “Belye Rosy” is a sequel of the soviet one from the 1970s bearing the same title.

Moldova is now producing only 1 film in 2 years.

Belarus is making some steps in order to develop its cinema market.

Film studio “BelarusFilm” and the French film company Cinema Soleil in autumn 2014 signed a memorandum on co-production of full-length feature film “If not now, when?” by Serbian director Emir Kusturica.

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However, release date is not known yet.

Among the top recent co-production films in CIS are Russia-FinlandEstonia-Belarus-Kazakhstan drama “I Won’t Come Back” (2014) by Ilmar Raag and Kazakhstan-France-Germany drama “The Wounded Angel” (2014) by Emir Baigazin.

A co-production between Romania, Moldova and Germany, the film “All Gods’ Children” (2012) was nominated for Oscar from Moldova and also for a Golden Globe in the category of “Foreign Language Film”, but the country could not cover all the costs involved.

CIS countries need to face those crucial issues that are turning back the whole film industry and start to make positive changes. The foreign models of production, promotion and distribution could be a good example. State financing is important also, but it’s not the main problem of CIS filmmaking industries development. Because even the low-budgeted films could gain huge success and there are a lot of examples for that.

MENA countries

“The specific of the Arab movies is that they are often nationalized, not aimed for the global mass audience”.

“Egypt established itself as the leading regional film-making state, and is positioned as “Hollywood of the Middle East”.

Although MENA region has been active in its film production development, so far none of the local film industries has truly met global standards. While the region has some obvious strengths, like its diverse and unique locations, domestic film industry is still made by Arabs and shown for Arabs only. The specific of the Arab movies is that they are often nationalized, not aimed for the global mass audience. But, recently, more local cinema productions started to appear in the Arab world’s film industry, which has resulted in media and public interest in movies from the region throughout the world.

Egypt established itself as the leading regional film-making state, and is positioned as “Hollywood of the Middle East”. Lebanon is known for its deep talent pool, recently expanding into international formats and film.

Morocco is preferred for Hollywood film production owing to its site offerings. Jordan has also benefited from its history-rich locations and the creation of a strong film commission to ease the filming process.

In such countries as Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the UAE governments only recently began to take a more pro-active role in financing movie industry. Dubai Film Connection (DFC) and Doha Film Institute (DFI) are the flourishing film funds for local Arabic production.

However, they are still limited in scale and scope. For the local producers it’s often difficult to find funding for their projects as investors are much more interested in investing their money in foreign projects, especially Hollywood ones, than in developing their own, frequently quite limited film industry.

In the main tourist cities, such as Dubai, Doha and the others, prevailing content in cinemas are popular world premieres, the major part of which are Hollywood movies. The share of domestic films playing in movie theaters usually does not exceed 10%. Box-office of Arab films is low because of a poor take-up by distributors and a lack of promotion.

Another problem is that in some Arab countries foreign distributors are

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“Box-office of Arab films is low because of a poor take-up by distributors and a lack of promotion”.

often excluded from the distribution sector either because the monopoly exists (Morocco) or because the sector is nationalized (Kuwait). Those countries – Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Syria – have dictatorship governments and due to this the censorship is expanded over all sectors, media and film ones especially. Constant and prolonged revolutions also do not allow its growth. A distribution sector is currently in an acute state of crisis. Movie theatres are outdated and decaying. However, a few firms are launching now a wave of multiplexing theatres, such as Empire in Lebanon and Iraq, and Gulf Film/Grand Cinemas in the Gulf countries.

Just a few years ago the majority of films made in co-production were films produced within the region itself due to the MENA countries’ national specifics such as strict legislative regulations, script limits and censorship.

However, in recent years we can see a tendency of these countries opening their markets to co-production with foreign states. Good example is drama “Atlantic” (2014), a joint production of the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Morocco. In pre-production now there is a comedy-drama “Catch the Moon”, co-production of UK, France, Germany and Egypt which will be released in 2016.

“Recent years the interest in Arab films has increased considerably”.

Recent years the interest in Arab films has increased considerably.

That’s easy to explain - the world has become more globalized, and the cultural differences, that used to be quite incomprehensible, now cause great interest to the viewers.

The most noticeable sales of the region production in 2015 are Egyptian romantic drama “Factory Girl” (2013) and UAE-produced road movie “From “A to B”(2014). “Factory Girl”, bought by the French distribution company Ocean Films Distribution, will be released in French cinemas in the last quarter of 2015. It’s also been recently marked with successful release in Sweden. From “A to B” has been picked up by Studio Canal for UK distribution following its successful January run in Middle Eastern cinemas.

MENA region has the extraordinary culture heritage. Despite the various stages of development and financial situation in the region countries are trying to develop the film industry. But while the censorship remains and the producers still go only after national audience, the industry will keep at the same level of development.

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THE MENA FILM MARKET AT A GLANCE | EXPERTS TALKING

Dubai Film Market

EXPERTS TALKING: THE MENA FILM MARKET AT A GLANCE Adham Nasrallah, Safe Media, specially for SSTR on peculiarities of MENA countries’ film industries.

ADHAM NASRALLAH Content Management, Safe Media

“It’s a region mostly known for acquiring films rather than producing them”.

The MENA film market differs a lot from other ones around the world.

It’s a region mostly known for acquiring films rather than producing them. ‘‘MENA Film Market’’ is too broad to describe it as the homogeneous one as the region is big and widely diverse. In terms of places where there might have been growth for an actual film industry, it’s been strangled by many factors such as political, economic, social, and cultural factors.w In terms of a solid base of real film industry Egypt stands ahead of all others in the region. Unlike the Lebanese, it wasn’t strained by war, but the scope was very narrow to go beyond the Arab World entering the international market. It was very local and basic and fit the regional market well. Most productions were very commercial, as it dominated the market. Thus, art wasn’t essential as productions were being merchandized either way. The main advantage was they were in Arabic, since dubbing ISSUE 3 AUGUST 2015 | SEASON SCREEN TV REVIEW | 17

EXPERTS TALKING | THE MENA FILM MARKET AT A GLANCE

“Lebanon is the hub for most of the prime time shows like Arab Idol, The Voice, Star Academy and Arabs Got Talent”.

“The film industry has been trying to gain strength in the past few years, however, the recent Arab Spring did not help”.

“The interesting thing is the birth of a new ground for the film industry in the region, i n the Gulf GGC countries”.

or subtitling foreign films is not popular because of cost and literacy; the Egyptian accent became widespread in the region.

Jordan has played a significant role, though it’s been mainly on Palestinian subjects. Even though they won an Emmy for a local series the film industry still struggles in Jordan. The country was a location for films like Indiana in the late 80’s, later it became less popular for Hollywood producers who, for security reasons relocated to Morocco where films like Spy Game, The Gladiator, and others were shot.

Lebanon was on the right track in film production until it was strained and came to a stop due to the civil war (1975-90). This was the main obstacle for growth for an actual film industry locally and for attracting western cinema. Despite the continuous turmoil in the country and region, the Lebanese government through the Ministry of Culture has been trying heavily along with several local and foreign organizations to enhance the country’s film industry with the means available and funds they could collect to aid producers. Even on an international level they were actively exposing their films in cultural weeks and foreign film slots with international TV channels. The Lebanese films, though very few, weren’t as narrow and the storylines though they mainly focused on the war and it’s after math, had a wider scope of reaching international audiences. This was not the case for the production of international TV formats as Lebanon is the hub for most of the prime time shows like Arab Idol, The Voice, Star Academy, and Arabs Got Talent.

The film industry has been trying to gain strength in the past few years, however the recent Arab Spring did not help – Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, and Syria have pulled the industry many steps backwards. Syria was trying to achieve a Film Industry similar to the success they achieved in the Drama Series, through the National Film Organization in Damascus; they were trying to produce around two films a year for an International Film Festival.

Unfortunately, that’s all gone now due to the war.

The interesting thing is the birth of a new ground for the film industry in the region, in the Gulf GGC countries. They are working heavily on creating an industry, investing in contribution, time and effort. Creating opportunities and encouraging initiatives through institutes, workshops, seminars, attending international film schools, trainings, film festivals, as well as sponsoring students, directors and producers etc.

The whole region stands far behind the rest of the world in terms of an actual solid form of a worldwide trade level entertainment industry.

Distribution of Arabic Films is nonexistent outside the region, either they were never promoted correctly or the content was too primitive, very local, unsuitable, or didn’t exemplify its origin to echo in other cultures properly.

Though very few films make it to international festivals, theaters and TV screens, a business can’t be defined with one movie here and there or a slot in a cultural week.

The question is how we make our films global, while saving their identity and authenticity. They should have an identity of national origin, but with a wider reach that would make them appealing to foreign audiences. That’s through advancements in methods related to production, storylines, acting, studios, technical matters, etc.

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THE MENA FILM MARKET AT A GLANCE | EXPERTS TALKING

“It is essential to have film culture and audiences before imported film festivals and bring on international stars to a red carpet”.

“The last years have demonstrated a remarkable significance through co-productions, however, the crosscultural productions have been popular ever since the industry began in the territory”.

Lay the groundwork to form an industry, before the glamour. It is essential to have film culture and audiences before imported film festivals and bring on international stars to a red carpet. Yet, when there’s no sign of a film industry, film schools, directors, producers, writers, actors, and intense censorship, what are the basis of a fair judgment and evaluation?

Only when the foundations are complete, then an audience can make a proper assessment. Then again, if there are no movie theaters let alone a film industry, then how can that be achieved?

The most vital element in the film industry is to have no boundaries that would limit its creativity. That is simply what defines the situation of the film market in the MENA region strangled with an economic, sociocultural / religious, political and geopolitical constraints, which are the main reasons behind the circulation of films from and to the region.

The last years have demonstrated a remarkable significance through co-productions in various manners, locations, methods, content, talent, funding and other forms mainly within the region itself. It is probably difficult come up with an accurate percentile of the co-produced films in the MENA region, especially with those from beyond the territory.

The cross-cultural productions have been popular ever since the industry began in the territory, historically most popular between the Lebanese and the Egyptians, in addition to other Syrian and Jordanian productions.

In the recently years there has been a big achievement going on the Arab Gulf, Dubai, Abu Dhabi & Qatar, launch of films festivals, Media Cities, Studios, Production houses, Media Institutes, Funding, and Investments. In North Africa, especially Morocco has been for a while a main destination for western cinema, as far as location, cost of production, and governmental encouragements through incentives, legal work and protection. Safety, plays a major role, the country enjoys more security in comparison to the rest of the region. This illustrates why it was chosen to shoot films such as “Sex in the City 2” not in Abu Dhabi for legal issues, as well as “Spy Game” though the story takes place in Beirut for security reasons it was transferred to Morocco. Moreover, may be the west always felt nostalgic about it since the iconic film Casablanca.

The region fails then you have an actual ecosystem for co-production beyond itself such as attracting the international filmmakers. It lacks proper promotion, publicity and incentives to expose the regions attractive film locations, production talents, and supportive governments. As in countries were improved top of line production infrastructure is available, its controlled by censorship, regulations and dictatorship, where as in the places were talent and freedom is abundant, they lack the finances, major studios and production facilities.

The Euromed audio visual program Cinemas particularly have invested lots of funding, time, efforts through there institutional programs by offering trainings, workshops and seminars. Through a developed strategy trying to push, enhance and promote it to the global film production market. Primarily publicize diverse locations like the mountains, beaches, deserts, rivers. Furthermore, providing production infrastructure, studio equipment, acting courses, new film techniques, workshops and talent database for talent pooling.

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INTERVIEW | “BATTLE FOR SEVASTOPOL”: NATIONAL FILMMAKING BREAKTHOUGH

ONE WOMAN WHO CH BASED ON TH

“BATTLE FOR SEVASTOPOL”: EXAMPLE OF THE LARGE-SCALE BREAKTHROUGH IN THE NATIONAL FILMMAKING The beginning of this year was marked with perhaps the most successful local premiere – Ukrainian-Russian co-production war drama biopic “Battle for Sevastopol”. We decided to speak to the two most important persons of the filming process – its director Sergei Mokritsky and producer Egor Olesov – about the recipe for filmmaking success, current state of Ukrainian film industry and the ways of its development.

Sergei Mokritsky

Director, operator, screenwriter

Why did you decide to pursue a career in filmmaking? What interests you most about it?

S.M.: I’m actually a professional cinematographer. When I was about

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“BATTLE FOR SEVASTOPOL”: NATIONAL FILMMAKING BREAKTHOUGH | INTERVIEW

HANGED THE WORLD HE TRUE STORY

to choose the faculty, I thought that the most important person in the filming process is the one who operates the camera, rather than the small, bald old man, who sits in a chair and directs the shooting. So I decided to get a degree in Cinematography. For 5 years I’ve been studying at the The Russian State University of Cinematography (VGIK) under the guidance of the great master Alexander Galperin; and only during my studies I realized that this small man, film director, is in charge. I shot many films as a cameraman, and eventually shifted to directing.

E.O.: What I like most about being a producer is that it’s an intersection of creativity and management. On one hand, you have to be quite creative and able to work with ideas, stories, new technologies, and on the other - you need to be tightly organized cause you act as an executive decisionmaker, responsible for picking up the team, production planning and then marketing and distribution processes. Plus, this profession is full of interesting challenges, it enables you to develop and grow professionally with each new project as every single one of them is essentially unique.

Egor Olesov

Producer, screenwriter

“Battle for Sevastopol” received very good critical acclaim and high ratings in Ukraine. Are you planning to distribute it abroad?

E.O.: Sure. Currently the film is sold to Japan, China, Indonesia and South Korea and is about to be sold to several large European territories.

Also at the moment we are in international distribution discussions with North and Latin America studios.

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INTERVIEW | “BATTLE FOR SEVASTOPOL”: NATIONAL FILMMAKING BREAKTHOUGH

“For us, co-production with Western partners is now a priority”.

“Battle for Sevastopol” is an official Ukrainian-Russian coproduction. What is the hardest thing in the preparation of such projects in your opinion?

E.O.: The biggest challenge we faced was the increased tension between the two states. However, for the whole team it became very important not to go into any political debate and focus on our project instead. I’m very happy that we managed everything and our long-term collaboration resulted in such a great film we are all proud of.

We were also a bit afraid that due to the plot (the film is set against the backdrop of WWII’s Battle of Sevastopol - a city, located in the Crimean peninsula), in Ukraine film could be interpreted as a kind of Russian propaganda. However, the pre-premiere screenings and early reviews from critics made our point in the right way.

Is Ukrainian co-production market alive? Are Ukrainian producers active in international co-productions?

E.O.: For us, co-production with Western partners is now a priority, especially considering tough economic situation at the local market. In order to awake the interest of foreign partners in our filmmaking industry we need to reach a sufficiently high level of the film production. I believe we are close to that now. That’s why, in my opinion, co-production approach to filmmaking here has the potential to be successful.

“The viewer has to get used to the fact that local movies can stand out and be deep, thought-provoking and emotional”.

“To make our films competitive we should follow global trends, choose interesting topics, create a good script and attract a highlevel professionals in the process”.

How would you describe the current state of Ukrainian film industry? Is it going be profitable to shoot films in Ukraine in observed future?

E.O.: It’s profitable to make films in Ukraine in any case.

Moreover, it’s profitable both for producers and for country itself. But the boundaries of our domestic market are set to be too small. We need to look for projects that may be interesting both for the local and international audience in order to shoot truly successful movies.

It is also very important to shape the appropriate image of Ukrainian cinema, turn it into an effective and competitive brand, primarily for the local audience. In other words - to make them believe in the national product. And this is a long-term, systematic work. The viewer has to get used to the fact that local movies can stand out and be deep, thoughtprovoking and emotional.

Plus the problem with the number of the theaters in the country needs fixing. For such a big territory, it should be at least two or three times more of them than we have now.

Ukrainian film market is mostly closed on itself. Why our films are non-competitive on international market in your opinion? Is there any opportunity for us to enter it in near future?

S.M.: There is always an opportunity. All depends only on the quality

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“BATTLE FOR SEVASTOPOL”: NATIONAL FILMMAKING BREAKTHOUGH | INTERVIEW

of the film and a story it lays out. To make our films competitive we should follow global trends, choose interesting topics, create a good script and attract a high-level professionals in the process. Technically, we have all for shooting of a high-quality film as the technical support in our region is on the same level as in Hollywood. But we live in an era of the Soviet legacy of filmmaking. Previously, we were focused on the domestic market only; it formed a whole school, a style, a way of thinking. And all of this still exists.

So, it is necessary to reform the vision. Get out of the closed mind, discover the world with the open eyes and get amazed by it. And then express this amazement and love in modern cinematic language.

What does it take to make a commercially successful movie?

S.M.: There are no rules, of course, but, I think, the main components should be: • A good story with a strong script.

• A hero, whom the audience will follow throughout the film.

• Good actors. “Star System” is still working.

• A story, told in understandable language, and corresponding to the genre.

• Most importantly - a talented crew. People have to make film with a warm heart, with the vision, clear understanding of why they are doing what they do, and to treat their work properly.

E.O.: Well, there are no certain recipes, and I think that even the most experienced Hollywood producers don’t know it. Otherwise, there would be no failures among the billion budget movies.

In short, the main constituents of a good movie are: a sincere faith in the story itself, a good script, a strong, creative team and cast, and the money for production and marketing. Marketing is now extremely important. Commercial success can often be lost because of the wrong marketing strategy.

“Marketing is now extremely important. Commercial success can often be lost because of the wrong marketing strategy”.

What are your plans for the future? What do you have coming up next that you’re excited about?

S.M.: In July the crew of the “Battle for Sevastopol” reunited on new project, the screening of the sci-fi novel “The Draft” by Sergei Lukyanenko.

We have already bought the rights on the book and now are in the process of turning a novel into a screenplay. It would be quite a challenge as it’s a fantasy film there is a whole new world to build. But it is fascinating, and I’m very excited about it.

E.O.: At the moment, I’m involved in preparations for the filming of “The Outpost”, an adventure film with elements of fantasy. We’ve already built a part of the scenery and now are making costumes and arranging props. The shooting will start this fall. Also, there are several projects in active development and pre-production, including several co-productions starring popular Western actors.

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REPORT | WORLD CONTENT MARKET 2015

WORLD CONTENT MARKET 2015

Tatyana Gura and Anna Verbovska Sales and acqusitions managers MK Media Group LLC

“WCM means networking with high level industry executives from Russian-speaking countries in an informal atmosphere”.

Our distributors Anna Verbovska and Tatyana Gura had a chance to take part in World Content Market, major marketplace popular among TV Channels and distribution companies from Russia, Ukraine, and CIS countries which was held on May 27-29 in Metropol Hotel in Moscow. Here is their story on this notable TV gathering.

This market was a unique opportunity for us to meet our key partners from Russia, Azerbaijan and Belarus, with whom we’ve been in a long contact via e-mail but yet hadn’t had a chance to meet face-to-face. Such markets are great as they provide an opportunity to network with a wide variety of high level industry executives in an informal atmosphere.

This year WCM, mainly focused on films (feature, documentaries and animation), TV-series and TV-formats, gathered over 1000 participants and 400 companies. Those media executives and decision makers, nearly a half of which were buyers, represented 40 countries around the globe.

We always try to watch TV in all our business trips – in hotels, at the airports, at the cafés. Time spent in Moscow wasn’t an exception. What we’ve noticed there from channel surfing was that most of the broadcasting time is filled with the news, series and adapted TV shows. However, nowadays Russia has a tendency to produce more of its own content instead of buying it abroad. But still, local producers are open for cooperation with foreign distributors.

Fortunately, we had few hours for sightseeing. Metropol Hotel is situated just on the corner of the Kremlin and the Red Square, so it was nice to have a little walk around the most outstanding places in Moscow.

Next World Content Market will be held again on November 16-18, 2015 in Moscow and we’d be happy to participate once again.

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NATPE EUROPE 2015 | REPORT

NATPE EUROPE 2015

Vladimir Osaulenko

Head of sales and acqusitions depaertment MK Media Group LLC

Our distributors Artem Zapolskyi and Vladimir Osaulenko traditionally participated in NATPE Europe that took place in Prague on June 22-25. This year’s global market attracted more than 600 participants from 27 countries and was quite memorable with European-made series gaining ground.

We had 4 dynamic and productive Artem Zapolskyi Sales and acqusitions manager days in beautiful Prague. During the MK Media Group LLC exhibition, we held a series of meetings with our colleagues from Central and Eastern Europe as well as from other regions.

We were pleased to notice while interacting with decision-makers at the market that the world media community is now more open for cooperation with Ukraine. We appreciate this and glad to emphasize that it’s a reciprocal process. Our country also has become more open to international content, co-production and new partnerships after we’ve started to implement quality reforms in the media industry.

Compared with the last year when NATPE was mostly aimed at and represented by the participants from Central and Eastern Europe, this year the great amount of sellers were Asians. “Discovery” and the rest of TV Titans appeared as usual. But together with them there were a lot of stands from Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

It’s not surprising given the economic performance of these states and the quality of their product, which is actually high. Although, it didn’t cause a resonance amid the European buyers, as there is no trend of picking up their content, in view of the fact that it has its cultural peculiarities and is not adapted for Europe. Visiting media fairs abroad, we always try to get acquainted with the culture of the host country. TV industry may be considered a part of it, so we paid attention to the programs currently aired on the local channels. It’s worth admitting that the Czech Republic is actually very good in producing documentary films and animation.

However, their domestic market is not very saturated that’s why the bulk of the content is picked up from abroad and adapted for the national audience.

Prague is the place where you want to return again and again. Everything in this city is made for people and their comfort. There are a lot of places great for both business and relax: parks with lakes and fountains, cafes with open terraces, public spaces. Even although we spent in the capital of the Czech Republic only 4 days, we found time to visit the famous Sedlec Ossuary. The castle is impressive and worth seeing. Everywhere we went we saw open-minded people with the smiles on their faces. The Czech Republic is very open, liberal country and we think Ukraine should take it for a model. We are looking forward to visiting Prague again.

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MEDIA FACTS | TOP 5 MOST BEAUTIFUL FILMING LOCATIONS IN THE WORLD

TOP 5 MOST BEAUTIFUL FILMING LOCATIONS IN THE WORLD While traveling how often do you find yourself thinking that you have already seen this place, despite the fact that you haven’t been there before?

And how often do you recognize locations while watching movies? Our world is full of amazing places – real pieces of art, created both by nature and mankind. Filmmakers are often trying to capture such places to make their scenes realistic and breathtaking. Take a look at our list of the 5 most beautiful film locations in the world.

Oahu, Hawaii, USA

The Hawaiian Islands can rightfully be named paradise on Earth. Oahu is one among top film and TV production locations that offers the rich beauty of Hawaii in a quiet and secluded setting. It is known for such films and TVseries as “Jurassic World”, “Pirates of the Caribbean: on Stranger Tides”, “Lost”, “Pearl Harbor”, “Godzilla” and “Avatar”.

Just imagine - in general, 1241 films and TV-series where shot on this outstanding island.

Canterbury, New Zealand

New Zealand provides a huge variety of filming locations. With its snowy mountains and desolate volcanic wasteland, serene beaches and the enchanted forests it’s like cinematic paradise. On the set of “The Lord of the Rings” Elijah Wood said that he has never seen a country with such a variety of gorgeous landscapes. Besides “The Lord of the Rings”, Canterbury is also known for “Slow West” and “The Chronicles of Narnia”.

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TOP 5 MOST BEAUTIFUL FILMING LOCATIONS IN THE WORLD | MEDIA FACTS

Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK

Students of the Oxford University are used to regular cameras and the shooting in their alma-mater. There is a long list of films that were filmed wholly or partially in Oxford (often featuring the University of Oxford). You can easily recognize it in 356 films and TV-series, including “Harry Potter” film, series “Skyfall”, “The Bourne Legacy”, “X-Men: First Class”, “The Golden Compass”, etc.

Ouarzazate, Morocco

Morocco is a favorite location for the filmmakers in the Middle East for its stunning sites and a safe stand-in.

The top place is Ouarzazate, which is the de facto the capital of the local film business. Big-budget historic epics such as Lawrence of Arabia, The Last Temptation of Christ, Gladiator, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time were shot here, as was the part of the TV series Game of Thrones.

Glacier National Park, Montana, USA

Glacier National Park, part of the Crown of the Continent, is one of America’s most intact ecosystems. Owing to this it attracted the cult director Stanley Kubrick. In the opening shots of “The Shining” we can see the aerial shots of the scenic Going-to-the-Sun-Road and Saint Mary’s Lake, which immediately fascinate viewers and grabs their attention. Besides “The Shining” here also was shot a part of infamous “Forrest Gump” running across the USA scene.

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SEASON SCREEN TV REVIEW August 2015

Published by MK Media Group DENYS MIKHEIEV General Director & Publishing Director KATERYNA DMYTRIIEVA CEO & Editor In Chief ANTONINA OSTAPCHUK Managing Editor MILA MARKITAN Editor ANDRIY BEZHYNOV Design www.mkmediagroup.tv content@mk-distribution.com www.facebook.com/tv.mkmediagroup www.linkedin.com/company/mk-distribution +38 (044) 288-08-92, +38 (044) 234-03-88 Ukraine, 01030, Kyiv, 8 Lysenko st., Office 39