Creative Business Forum Participants Assess Prospects for the Film Industry and Animation in the North and East at EEF 2022

Participants in the session ‘Film Industry and Animation of the North and East: New Markets and Technologies’, which took place as part of the Creative Business Forum at the Eastern Economic Forum 2022 (EEF), discussed the development of regional cinematography in the near future, content distribution technologies, and the impact of films on travel. The session was part of the plan of events of Russia’s chairmanship of the Arctic Council in 2021–2023, which are being organized by the Roscongress Foundation.

The session also focused on problems of competitiveness, tools to support cinema and animation in the northern regions, cooperation with foreign producers, and the adaptation of the finished product for Asian consumers. The discussion took place at the House of Indigenous Peoples pavilion – a new EEF 2022 venue dedicated to the culture of the Indigenous peoples of the North.

“This year, we are launching rebates (tax refunds) and have decided to include individuals in the grant competition. I am confident in the usefulness of this innovation. It enables talented people to prove themselves and get a sense of their competitiveness. We concluded an agreement with Lenfilm to provide expert support for the Spirit of Fire festival and staff training. Together with the Innosocium Foundation, we are creating the ‘Yugorsk Novellas’ and organizing expeditions to unique protected areas in the Berezovsky and Surgut Districts. We not only provide the film industry with locations, but also with financial guarantees, and the film industry helps to develop regional tourism. In doing so, we are creating a pool of professional partners and building up our own opportunities so that they can produce and multiply economic benefits,” Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District – Yugra Governor Natalya Komarova said.

“Russian cinema has a strong position thanks to government support. Now it is essential to develop our own film production infrastructure in the regions, launch rebate systems for producers, and hold film festivals. The success of Yakut cinema and the Yakut film boom – when 12–14 films are released a year – demonstrates that favourable conditions for film production enhance the tourism appeal of the region and create conditions for the inflow of investments,” Yelena Marinina, Deputy CEO of the Roscongress Foundation and Director of the Innosocium Foundation, the social platform of the Roscongress Foundation.

“Russian cinema has made a huge breakthrough over the past four years. We are producing our own content with great success, but haven’t forgotten about development. The film industry in the regions has good prospects. Lenfilm has launched a debut cinema laboratory, and we are planning to present it in Yugra at the Spirit of Fire festival. We really appreciate the cooperation with the Murmansk Region and their help, without which the most difficult field shootings could’ve never been made. At present, I see good potential for regional production centres and it’s important that they continue to receive support from the state in their work,” Lenfilm General Director Fyodor Shcherbakov said.

The discussion was attended by Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District – Yugra Governor Natalya Komarova, Kandykan Creative Association Director Margarita Popova, Film Director Pyotr Khiki Struchkov, Lenfilm General Director Fyodor Shcherbakov, Russian Media Group General Director Lyubov Malyarevskaya, Mechtalet Animation Studio Co-Founder, FEPI Director, and Amur Technopark Director Vitaly Ten, Minister of Innovation, Digital Development, and Infocommunication Technologies of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) Anatoly Semenov, and Deputy Governor of the Murmansk Region Yelena Dyagileva. The session was moderated by Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives General Director Roman Karmanov.

The Creative Business Forum ‘Sociocultural Development of Northern Regions’ was organized by the Innosocium Foundation with the support of the Ministry for the Development of the Russian Far East and the Arctic. The business programme of the Creative Business Forum was dedicated to the sociocultural development of the northern regions and focused on promising areas of creative industries and the development of the social sector in the northern territories.