You're reading: Why there are no films in original language shown in Kyiv any more

Editor’s note: You’ve probably wondered why our section “Movie Listings” was getting thinner and thinner each week. We have bad news for you: This vacuum will last for a while. Here’s why.

The list of Kyiv cinemas with movies in their original languages boils down to four.

Kinopanorama, Zhovten, Kyiv and Butterfly Ultramarine, however, no longer treat filmgoers with original voice tracks, simply because there are not enough of them.

“The audience votes with a ‘ruble’ for dubbing,” explains Denys Ivanov, president of Arthouse Traffic distribution company.

Now his company manages to screen films in foreign languages only during film festivals when other sponsors, including embassies, pitch in.

“We used to receive film copies on tape in original language to preview [before ordering a dubbing] and could screen them in cinema,” said Halyna Tymoshenko from Kinomania, an official distributor of Warner Brothers and New Line Cinema in Ukraine. “Now we get movies in electronic files, which cannot be used for screening.

The cost of an additional copy and other expenditures make the whole business unviable.”

The reason for not showing films in the original language with Ukrainian subtitles is a question of habit.

The tradition of dubbing stuck with many viewers since the Soviet times.

Film critics say that many Ukrainians tune out when they hear a foreign language on screen and find subtitles irritating.

The existing demand for all the sounds and undertones in “King’s Speech,” for example, is simply not enough to feed the supply.

“If we look at two-three weeks of the originals’ screenings, they will account for only 25 percent of the box office receipts compared to what movies in Russian or Ukrainian make,” said Pavlo Gordeladze, manager at the Zhovten cinema.

Last time Zhovten treated its foreign viewer was with a collection of short films “Shorts Attack!” in spring.

“We won’t be ordering additional copies [in the original language] because the audience likes them much less anyway,” Gordeladze said.

Ukrainians are not used to subtitles. They prefer voice-overs, the cost of which has recently gone down.

Many distributors also try to benefit from the new law, which allows for no dubbing of art house films into Ukrainian.

If there are less than 10 copies to be distributed among movie theaters, there’s no need to translate them and they hit the screen in Russian with Ukrainian subtitles, explained Gordeladze.

Take this year’s winner of the Cannes festival “The Tree of Life” with Brad Pitt. You can catch it in Kyiv cinema but that’s, of course, if you know Russian or can read the subtitles in Ukrainian.

“If we were more educated and had better knowledge of foreign languages, then original films would be in more demand,” said Anna Li, the head of advertising for Kyiv cinema.

Cultural center Master Class has been filling the niche with old time classics once a week, but even they close their movie hall for the summer.

Tune back in October and meanwhile enjoy films on DVD.

Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Faryna can be reached at [email protected]