Moscow film production ready for action at the American Film Market

Seventeen major Moscow-based studios and distributors are presenting over 50 projects to global buyers

Created in Moscow premieres at the AFM

Santa Monica. November 7 — The key Moscow-based producers of feature films, TV series and animation are presenting new projects at the American Film Market that opened yesterday. The presentation of Russian content under the umbrella brand “Created in Moscow” has put together about 100 major global buyers. Supported by Moscow Export Center, 17 production and distribution companies brought more than 50 projects to the US. Russian filmmakers will show their titles to global producers in Russian, French, German, English and Chinese. At the AFM, Moscow opened a series of presentations of the top world film production hubs.

The participation of Moscow companies in the largest film market is part of the Moscow Export Center’s program to support local creative powerhouses and its access to international markets. “Moscow authorities pay great attention to supporting the export of products and services of creative industries, and in particular, film and animation products,” says Moscow Export Center’s General Director Kirill Ilichev, “Last year, exports of audio-visual and related services from Russia were up 5.2%, coming in at USD 210.7 million. We hope that the excellence of the projects from Moscow companies and the grand scale of the American Film Market, a place where over USD 1 billion worth of deals are made each year, will ensure that all its participants can be successful.”

“Global promotion is a crucial growth driver for the global film and entertainment industry, and Russia is no exception here. At one of the busiest film markets in the world we are standing together as a major industry player in films, TV content and animation. And this year there is a good case for the most of leading companies to appear at the AFM under a single brand, Created in Moscow,” adds Evgenia Markova, Industry Relations Director at Expocontent. Russian film companies have brought to the US commercial films that have reached mass audiences in recent years and generated growing box office receipts outside Russia. The annual growth rate of Russian content sales abroad over the last three years has topped 20%.”

Russian line-up at the AFM

Central Partnership, a major Russian distribution and rental company, is launching the sales of two large-scale projects. One is Chernobyl. Abyss, a drama directed by Danila Kozlovsky and produced by Non-Stop Production and DK Entertainment, focusing on the repercussions of Chernobyl accident elimination. The other is Fire, an action movie produced by Nikita Mikhalkov’s TriTe Studio, with the participation of TV Channel Russia 1, an epic about firefighters and rescuers, for whom heroic deeds are all in a day’s work.

At the AFM, Central Partnership will premiere The Blackout, a fantasy/action/thriller from Premier Studios.

“International buyers would be able to see the premiere of this movie’s final cut with a working CG version. The project has already been sold to several European territories, and after the AFM we expect to strike deals with the Asian buyers who continue to show a great interest in the project,” says Katerina Pshenitsyna, Central Partnership’s VP, International Distribution, “We will also continue to sell Silver Skates, a romantic adventure film, which is a joint project between Central Partnership, the GPM KIT group of companies, Nikita Mikhalkov’s TriTe Studio, and Kinoslovo; and The Ninth, a thriller from Non-Stop Production.”

The company’s slate also includes the animated feature film The Fixies vs. Crabots of the Aeroplane studio.

Art Pictures Studio will offer fantasy blockbuster Invasion directed by Fedor Bondarchuk; Ice 2 by Zhora Kryzhovnikov, co-produced with Vodorod; and sci-fi Sputnik by Yegor Abramenko, which is a co-production of Vodorod, Art Pictures and Hype Film. In its line-up, Art Pictures Studio also has Fedor Konyukhov, Fedor Bondarchuk’s new international project about the famous Russian explorer and his recent extreme adventure to circumnavigate the world in an air balloon. Still in productions, Fedor Konyukhov is to be released in late 2020.

The flagships of Mars Media include A Dog Named Palm, an adventure film for family viewing by Alexander Domogarov Jr., and Sabre Dance by Yusup Razykov, an Aram Khachaturian biopic co-produced by Russia and Armenia. The picture tells the story of how the famous music composer wrote his most famous piece in just eight hours amid World War 2. “Sabre Dance has already been sold to Japan, Thailand and Latin America, and we plan to finalize negotiations with some other countries in Santa Monica,” says Mila Rozanova, Mars Media’s Global Sales Head. Sabre Dance’s release is scheduled for December 2019. In Santa Monica, Mars Media will also present Rzhev, a war drama by Igor Kopylov.

Russian animation at the AFM

Licensing Brands will present two new 3D projects for family viewing, Pinocchio and Big Trip 2: Special Delivery. Licensing Brands intend to sell the rights to these projects to uncovered territories such as the US and Western Europe.

Kolobanga Media will offer in Los Angeles its own 3D animation: full-length adventure films Kolobanga. Hello, Internet and Netski. The Universe of the Net. As Kolobanga planned to distribute Netski in Europe, North and South America at Marche du Film and MIFA in Annecy, it intends to continue pre-sales and cover new territories for Kolobanga.

A turning point for the Russian film industry

Positioning the national Russian cinematography brand at all key industry events is part of a general strategy to internationally promote the Russian film industry and content production.

“Created in Moscow brand is not only about content, but also about the people involved and their professional excellence and readiness to cooperate. A shared history shows our foreign partners that Russia – and Moscow, in particular – can see new opportunities arising for the creative industry, including the co-production of international projects. These new opportunities emerged with the launch of a rebate scheme for foreign producers that has come into effect today, with the rebate ranging between 30 and 40%,” says Evgenia Markova, Expocontent Industry Relations Director.

Source: Expo Content Russian