Radioaktive Film, a Kyiv-based movie and video clip maker founded in 1998 by American business people, acknowledges that the ongoing Ukrainian crisis is making it close to impossible to monetize video production projects.
“Everyone is too scared to come to Ukraine,” says Roman Kindrachuk, the
company’s executive producer. “As long as there’s a threat of war, no one
will come.”
His film production company started to feel the strain when the EuroMaidan
Revolution erupted in November of 2013. With the annexation of Crimea in March
and the beginnings of the conflict in the east, things got even worse.
A perennial tourist destination, Crimea’s subtropical climate, mountainous
coast and antique Greek heritage also enjoys being a prime shooting location
for numerous foreign film makers, many of whom come from the West. Therefore,
its loss to Russia has caused a serious fallout for Ukraine-based production
projects.
However, Kindrachuk emphasizes that the Ukrainian crisis is isolated to the
eastern area of the country. In his opinion, cities like Kyiv and Odesa – other
prime location spots – are relatively safe and easy to film in.
Russian clients traditionally film here because of Ukraine’s comparatively
cheaper prices for video services. Radioaktive Film is no exception, since
Russians form a major section of their client base. Now, with political tensions
at a peak between the two countries, the company’s Russian orders have now
“fallen almost to zero,” says Kindrachuk.
However, he adds that Radioaktive’s losses caused by Russia’s undeclared
war against Ukraine is relatively low compared to those of other companies since
it has a long-standing history of supportive, profitable relationships with
Western clients, even though they are now too reluctant to commit to projects
in Ukraine.
There are the obvious safety risks as well as the collateral problems of
insurance companies refusing to fund projects in a war-torn country.
“Essentially, 15 years of tireless work to build up momentum and put Ukraine on
the film industry’s map has been practically destroyed over a period of three
months,” Kindrachuk laments.
Radioaktive’s initial business model was based on being a lower budget, flexible,
arts-based outlet. Now its sister company, Atom, has assumed this role –
catering to the more localized needs of Ukrainian clients, whilst Radioaktive
is involved with bigger, more complicated orders. It primarily caters to television
commercials but also produces feature films and music videos. Its clientele includes
some global businesses, such as American beverage giant Coca-Cola, Danish alcohol-producing
peer Carlsberg, France’s diary maker Danone and Russian telecommunication
services provider MTS.
Last year Radioaktive shot a major $10-million Canadian feature, “The Devil’s Harvest,” a romantic-drama film
about Stalin’s forced famine-genocide of Ukraine in 1932-1933. Shooting wrapped up in Kyiv in February, but
there is no scheduled release date yet.
Their biggest commercials include “The Pursuit,” advertising for Chinese technology mammoth Lenovo,
which was directed by Martin Campbell, a film director from New Zealand known
for filming two James Bond movies: Golden Eye and Casino Royale. Another major
commercial made by Radioaktive is “Daddy’s Little Girl” for Scandinavian
SAS Airlines, which won a bronze medal at the 2013 Cannes Lions International
Festival of Creativity.
Regarding Radioaktive’s Ukrainian clients for film making, they are
substantially pressured by low budgets and prefer small-scale projects.
For Radioaktive’s Kindrachuk, as well as some of his colleagues, the fallout
caused by the crisis is extremely frustrating. It led them to jointly stage the
“Fuck Putin, Film in Ukraine” event being held at Cannes Festival this year to raise awareness about the problems facing
the Ukrainian film industry.
However, Tim Hawkins, the UK-based director at Faction Films, does not
agree with Radioaktive’s Kindrachuk on the negative impact that the current
crisis has on the arts business. He sees the advantages of setting up projects
within Ukraine’s current climate: “I think there are many filmmakers who could
be interested in working in Ukraine on more guerilla-style productions. The
immediacy and high rate of change in events in Ukraine could attract more adventurous
filmmakers who are looking to create something unique and exhilarating on a
budget.
“Equally Ukrainian filmmakers who are looking to tell the story of
what is currently happening in the country should try to reach out to foreign
production companies to access co-production revenue… Many people are very
interested in what is happening in Ukraine at the moment,” he adds.
Radioaktive is now looking at alternative markets and is considering
opening up offices in other countries like Kazakhstan and Georgia which are
fast becoming more popular destinations. However, Ukraine’s $540 million
TV-commercials market remains promising. The All-Ukrainian Ad Coalition, an industry
association, expects it to grow by as much as 10 percent this year.
Kyiv Post intern Francesca Ebel can be reached at
[email protected].
