AND RADIO

Sovtelexport is giving audiences a front-seat view of some of the most outstanding moments in Russian history, through a catalog of high-end costume dramas that continue to find new screens around the world.

ByCarolina Mussio @carolinamussio cmussio@todotv.tv

Owner of one of the world’s most coveted collections of Russian content, in 2019 S o v t e l e x p o r t signed more than 100 licensing agreements for different kinds of rights, with distributors and TV channels in Latin America, the US, Western and Eastern Europe, Asia and MENA countries.

“This confirms the interest of international buyers in Russian content”, Julia Matyash, Director of the distribution arm of Russia Television and Radio, said to ttv. “And we are proud to contribute to the popularization and recognition of Russian projects at the global market.” When it comes to this recognition, one of the most demanded Russian productions in the international market are costume dramas, with titles like ‘Ekaterina’, ‘Anna Karenina’, ‘Sophia’ and ‘Godunov’ among RTR’s best-selling productions; a trend the executive believes will continue in 2020.

“Historical dramas will stay demanded,” she remarked. “Viewers get a unique cultural and social experience. The world of costume dramas is so different from the one we are living in and still relevant. A dramatic plot, gorgeous costumes, brilliant actors and lavish decorations keep attracting audiences worldwide,” she added.

Julia Matyash, Director of Sovtelexport

“And we are proud to contribute to the popularization and recognition of Russian projects at the global market.”

A JOURNEY THROUGH RUSSIAN HISTORY

Hoping to “surpass last year’s success”, the company is now presenting a vast catalog of costume dramas to the international market, including the successful ‘Ekaterina’, ‘Anna Karenina’ and ‘Sophia’, as well as newer additions such as ‘The Cloister’ and ‘Two Tickets Home’.

Set in the late 1920s, ‘The Cloister’ begins in an ancient monastery, showing picturesque lakes and cold, hunger, pain and sufferings of people in the Solovetsky concentration camp. A passionate love story between a prisoner Artyom and a Cheka officer Galina unfolds in a place where everybody is striving to survive at any cost. Their love is doomed to be tragical.

Meanwhile, ‘Two Tickets Home’ revolves around Lyuba, an orphan who learns that her father is alive and in prison for her mother’s murder. She decides to kill him.