When Ukrainian filmmakers get together in one place, one wouldn’t expect the first topic of conversation to be government legislation.
But that was the case at the Film.Ua studio in Kyiv’s Troyeshchyna district on Sept. 23, where more than 100 Ukrainian filmmakers gathered to watch previews of upcoming shows on Ukrainian TV. Everyone was also discussing the new bill on state support for cinematography passed by the Ukrainian parliament on Sept. 22.
“With this bill, our lawmakers have opened the way for Ukraine to become a new powerful player in the international cinema business,” Victoria Yarmoshchuk, the head of the Media Resources Management consulting company, told the Kyiv Post at the screening.
The new bill on state support for cinematography, dubbed the “Cinema State” bill, is designed to make Ukraine a more attractive shooting location for foreign filmmakers through a system of rebates.
Foreign and Ukrainian producers will be able to claim a rebate of 25 percent of the production costs of movies shot on the territory of Ukraine, as well as 10 percent of the sum spent on wages to Ukrainian film crew members. Ukrainian filmmakers will also be able to claim 80 percent state financing, instead of 50 percent, as had been the case before the bill was passed.
Pylyp Illenko, the head of Ukraine’s State Film Agency, was optimistic about the future effects of the bill, saying that the heads of the Ukrainian film studios, who are usually competitors, had come together to create a law that would transform the country’s cinema business.
Furthermore, after two years of bans on TV series and films glorifying the Russian military and police, the domestic TV and film industry has started developing, said Ulyana Feschuk, the deputy head of the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine during the Sept. 19 opening of Kyiv Media Week, a media business networking forum.
In 2014-2015, two new subscription channels with original Ukrainian content appeared in Ukraine – Film.Ua Drama, created by the Film.Ua studio, and Kvartal TV, created by Studio Kvartal 95 and 1+1 media.
And media groups StarLightMedia and Film.Ua Group, which previously focused on the television market, have started making movies and animations for theatrical release.
“We must share the content made in Ukraine with as many foreign countries as possible”, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the creative director of Studio Kvartal 95, said at the opening of Kyiv Media Week.
Ukrainian content is indeed moving further afield: Ukrainian producers sold original TV series and shows to Japan, France, China and other countries in 2015-2016.
And Studio Kvartal 95 managed to sell its own original product, the political comedy series “The Servant of the Nation,” to U.S Fox Studios for adaptation, and to Netflix for screening.
Win-win situation
The rebates will be paid to filmmakers directly from the state budget – the money for the rebates will come from taxes paid by cinema studios and from the proceeds from state lotteries.
“Our partners from EY (Ernst &Young) calculate that every euro compensated to filmmakers from the state budget will bring back four euros to the state,” said Film.ua studio lawyer Yevheniya Durbol during a Kyiv Media Week meeting on Sept. 23.
The foreign filmmakers will qualify for the 25 percent rebate only if they spend from $320,000 to $400,000 on shooting in Ukraine.
“Finally Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities and towns will get the chance to become top tourist destinations for movie lovers from all over the world,” said Anatoliy Maksymchuk, the deputy head of StarLightMedia group. “It will be like what happened with Barcelona, after U.S director Woody Allen shot his famous movie ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’ using the financial support of the Barcelonan and Catalonian local authorities.”
Maksymchuk went on: “A well-developed system of financial benefits for cinematographers will mean there is a chance for the rebirth not only of Ukraine’s cinema business, but also for the country’s tourism and services industries. It will mean new taxes paid in Ukraine, new jobs for Ukrainians, and great international promotion.”
The state will also help to promote Ukrainian cinema, with trailers for new Ukrainian movie releases shown on TV and on the internet for publicity purposes.
Zelenskiy, the creative director of Studio Kvartal 95, said that “we must not afraid the fierce competition with Western cinematographers.Quite the opposite – competition is the best stimulant for growth and development. I’m pretty sure that here in Ukraine we can produce high-quality content.”
