Russian government rejects film industry finance initiative

Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov has declined to support a Ministry of Culture initiative that would see Russian cinemas pay to support the domestic film industry.

The Ministry of Culture had proposed an obligatory fee to be paid by cinemas, equating to 3 per cent of a cinema’s income and 0.5 per cent of income for online cinemas, the proceeds of which would go to the national film fund. It was calculated that the new measure could bring an additional 0.7 billion rubles (approx. US$10.8 million) per year to the fund. President Vladimir Putin requested that the Ministry propose the measure to the government.

At a meeting with film producers and other representatives of the cinema and television industry it was stated that in the case of the introduction of the new fees, cinema networks would cease to open new facilities. After hearing the arguments made by the participants of the meeting, Mr Shuvalov said that the government would not support the Ministry of Culture’s proposal.

Source: Afisha (in Russian)