You're reading: Foreign filmmakers bypassing Ukraine

It should be a marriage made in Hollywood - Ukraine's natural beauty, wide variety of locations, numerous film studios and cheap labor hooking up with international moviemakers looking for the ideal spot to film their latest blockbuster.

But following the successes of the previous decade, with dozens of feature-length movies being shot in Ukraine, filmmakers’ love for the country has waned.

Tax incentives in countries with big film industries like the United States and other tough conditions in Ukraine have lowered the country’s attractiveness, Olga Scherbakova, spokeswoman for the Odesa Film Studio, told the Kyiv Post.

“Foreign filmmakers don’t want to shoot their films here anymore. That’s because there isn’t a 20 percent film (incentive) tax in Ukraine. A lot of countries give 20 percent of the money foreign producers spend on shooting in their country back to investors during the film’s distribution,” Scherbakova said.

In the 2000s, dozens of foreign movies were made in the Carpathian Mountains, the Chornobyl zone and other regions and oblasts of Ukraine, highlighting Ukraine’s versatility as a location.

For instance, the ancient China of the 2004 Oscar-winning “The House of the Flying Daggers” was recreated in the Hutsul Region National Park near the city of Kosiv in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast. Director Zhang Yimou and his film crew spent 70 days on location in Kosiv during September and October 2003.

“The House of the Flying Daggers” is a touching love story of police officer Leo and blind rebel woman Mei, who find themselves on opposite sides during a rebellion against Tang Dynasty rule in China.

An early snowfall forced the movie’s final fight scene to be filmed in a blizzard, which meant making changes to the script, but Zhang was happy with the way it turned out, and the film received wide critical acclaim on its release.

Unpredictable climatic conditions aren’t the main problem hampering Ukraine’s movie industry, however. Scherbakova said that a tough movie-making environment, including low tax incentives and tangling bureaucracy, could end up bankrupting the state movie industry. “Only independent foreign investors are still interested in shooting in Ukraine. But they don’t want to do business with the State Film Agency,” she said.

But Ksenya Kosyk, spokeswoman for the Ukrainian State Film Agency, told the Kyiv Post that shooting conditions in Ukraine would soon become better.

“The first thing on our list is a film tax incentive,” Kosyk said. “We already have such a contract with France, and another deal is to be signed soon with Poland.”

According to Kosyk, several proposals to grant benefits to foreign filmmakers are in the works. “We understand the benefits of working with our foreign colleagues. After the shooting of the “Game of Thrones” series in Croatia, for example, its tourist business increased, because many fans want to visit the film locations,” Kosyk said.

-Cameraman shoots the “car wheel” detail for the movie Transporter 3, in Odesa, Ukraine.

Cameraman shoots the “car wheel” detail for the movie Transporter 3, in Odesa, Ukraine.

One Ukrainian location that could gain from film-related tourism is Odesa Oblast, which is perhaps the best-loved region in Ukraine among foreign cinematographers. The Black Sea coast, Odesa’s huge international port and the picturesque old city has inspired the directors of several blockbusters, from comedies to action films.

In 2007, action-movie star Jason Statham was filmed fighting bad guys and driving a luxury Audi on the roads of Odesa Oblast for “Transporter 3,” the third installment of the Luc Besson Transporter franchise. As well as introducing filmgoers to the charms of Odesa, the film helps educate them about the differences between Ukrainians and Russians: At one point, when Statham’s character asks the lead female character Valentyna (ironically played by Russian-born actress Natalya Rudakova) why Russians are so cheerless, she immediately responds “I’m not Russian, I’m Ukrainian. We’re different here (points to her heart) and here (points to her head.)”

One part of Ukraine that has negative associations for foreigners – the Chornobyl zone – is nevertheless popular with filmmakers, as it’s basically one big, ready-made, post-apocalyptic outdoor film set. One recent horror film to make use of the location was “Chornobyl Diaries” (2012), which was shot by director Brad Parker in the abandoned city of Pripyat. In the film, a group of travelers on an “extreme tour” of the Chornobyl zone are set upon by hordes of mutant humanoids, with predictably horrific results.

As for the results at the box office for films shot in Ukraine – they have been mixed. The horror film “Dark Waters” (1994), which was the first big Western-made movie to be shot in Ukraine, was beset with production problems. It got good reviews but made little impact worldwide. The 2005 movie adaptation of the Jonanthan Safran Foer novel “Everything is Illuminated,” which was filmed in Odesa Oblast, was praised by critics but lost money even though it was filmed on a small budget. The 2012 film “Soldiers of Fortune” (2012), shot in Yalta, Sevastopol and Balaklava took in maybe a quarter of its $8 million budget at the box office. Besson’s Transporter 3 did a lot better, grossing $106 million worldwide, although it got tepid reviews.

Meanwhile, Kosyk said the Ukrainian State Film Agency is working on several draft bills that will make Ukraine “the perfect place for shooting not only foreign, but also Ukrainian movies in co-production with other countries.”

Nine movies, which were co-produced by Ukrainian filmmakers and foreign partners from Germany, France, Poland, Bulgaria, Russia and the United States, are slated for release this year and in 2016, Kosyk said.

Kyiv Post writer Veronika Melkozerova can be reached at [email protected]