This year, the Docudays UA festival opened a distribution area. In Kyiv and the regions, screenings of the Docu/Hit program, formed from documentaries that aroused the greatest audience interest, were held. These are “Ukrainian Sheriffs” by Roman Bondarchuk, “In the Rays of the Sun” by Vitaly Mansky, “Almost a Saint” by Steve Hoover and “How to Change the World” by Jerry Rothwell.
The film distribution covered four cities: Kiev (Zhovten cinema), Lvov (Palace of Mysteries), Kharkov (8 1/2), Dnepr (Pravda Kino) and Mariupol (Pobeda cinema). At the end of August, the Docu/Hit program will be presented in Odessa and Kherson.
As program coordinator Anna Burdina said, the total audience of Docu/Hit was more than 5.5 thousand viewers. Almost half of them – more than 2600 – are the Zhovtnya audience.
Number of viewers of the DOCU/HIT program in June 2016: 2615
“In the Rays of the Sun” – 52 sessions – 1700 spectators
“Almost a Saint” – 22 sessions – 480 spectators
“Ukrainian Sheriffs” – 14 sessions – 225 spectators
“How to change the world” – 9 sessions – 205 viewers
The director of Zhovtnya, Lyudmila Gordeladze, presented these data as part of the expert round table “Documentary Film in Ukraine: Logistics during the War,” which was organized for the first time by a cinema.
The meeting was joined by Anna Burdina, founder of Docudays UA, producer Gennady Kofman, director of 86Prokat Ilya Gladshtein, director of the department of state regulation and implementation of film projects of the State Cinema of Ukraine Stanislav Pritula, documentary film researcher, film director, curator of the documentary program of the independent American film festival “Independence” AIFF 2016 Dmitry Tyazhlov, producer and co-author of the film “Volunteers of the Divine Couple” Ivan Yasnoy, director of the “Lira” cinema Olesya Lavronenko and head of the back office of the “Planet Kino” cinema chain Alexey Shpatenko.
During his speech, Stanislav Pritula invited creative groups to take a more active part in the documentary pitching section of Goskino. Issues of state support for film distribution, as follows from the report of a representative of the department, are complex and require the goodwill of not only Goskino, but also other departments, in particular the Ministry of Finance. “For the Ministry of Finance, the only important indicator is the amount of money we collected from the film. And this is generally unacceptable for modern cinema in the current cultural realities,” Mr. Pritula gave an example. He supported the theses of the round table participants that government support for the distribution of documentary films is necessary. He called Ilya Gladshtein’s conclusion about the need for state subsidies on the sale of tickets for documentaries so that the price for them would be acceptable.
Now, Stanislav Prytula recalled, Goskino can provide funds for the presentation of Ukrainian films from a special account. This “fund” in support of filmmakers’ initiatives accumulates proceeds from the distribution of films produced with government funding.
There is no system to support the distribution of independent documentary films in Ukraine. Filmed on their own, the authors Ivan Yasnoy and Leonid Kanter released the film “Volunteers of the Divine Couple” on the big screens “scooter”, agreeing to show the film with each cinema separately. As a result, the film attracted 26 thousand viewers. The producers of the film, according to Ivan Yasniy, achieved this result thanks to the topical theme of the film about the war in eastern Ukraine and the support of local activists who helped promote the film. It is also worth noting the activity of the producers themselves, who for several months lived in a regime of business trips and negotiations.
The need to find a market formula for the distribution of documentary films is emphasized by Gennady Kofman. As he noted, for now the Docudays UA team continues to demonstrate such films in the regions of Ukraine as part of the Docudays UA Traveling Festival and buys licenses to show films in the film club. However, Ukraine is still far from achieving process economics. “Without donors, without injections, distribution can be considered as an educational activity – to accustom the viewer to good cinema,” says Gennady Kofman.
Dmitry Tyazhlov, in his report on the international experience of film distribution of documentary films, emphasized that, first of all, cinema is an instrument of education and cultural diplomacy. And this can be the basis for commercial activities. The culture of watching documentary films, as follows from the speech of a researcher of non-fiction genres, should be cultivated from childhood. And this requires not only the efforts of enthusiasts, but also government policy regarding cinema.
Olesya Lavronenko, who previously held the position of head of the film distribution department of Goskino, noted that she is a supporter of strict rules for the cinema regarding Ukrainian films. “The 30 percent quota for showing Ukrainian cinema is fulfilled from 9:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. And who will go to the cinema at a time like this? It is impossible to get into cinemas such as Multiplex or Butterfly at a time convenient for the viewer,” –
Ms. Lavronenko noted. On the other hand, as Lyudmila Gordeladze reminded, these cinemas are commercial projects and are focused on a repertoire of films, tickets for which will help return the invested funds.
Despite the fact that neither legislation nor government policy in Ukraine has yet acted in the interests of cinema, shifts in film distribution occur as exceptions or small miracles. One such example is the goodwill to show documentaries on the Planet Cinema network. As Alexey Shpatenko said, the network’s cinemas periodically show such films, although their audience is still small.
Summing up the meeting, Lyudmila Gordeladze emphasized the need to increase the number of cinema halls in Ukraine, as well as professional films in the cinema format. For example, short films are released on big screens in cinema format. And the choice of full-length spectator documentary films is not only in Ukraine but also in the world.
Number of viewers of documentaries at the Zhovtnya cinema:
• 9000 spectators * “Oceans” * 350 sessions * 2009 * distributor – “Arthouse Traffic”
• 2800 spectators * “Sansara” * 172 sessions * 2013 * distributor – “Arthouse Traffic”
• 570 viewers * “Russian Woodpecker” * 70 sessions * 2016. * Distributor – “86 Prokat”
• 270 spectators * “Brantsy” * 35 sessions * 2016 * distributor – “86 Prokat”
• 260 spectators * “Putin’s Games” * 45 sessions * 2014 * distributor – “86 Prokat”
• 175 viewers * “Crimea. How it was” * 20 sessions * 2016 * distributor – Big Hand Films
Lyudmila Gordeladze considers it important for Ukraine to join Euroimages. After all, this will expand the distribution market for Ukrainian films and provide an opportunity to receive additional funds for creative projects in support of cinemas.
According to the director of Zhovtnya, the first industry association – the Union of Cinemas of Ukraine – can encourage cinema directors to work creatively with the audience. This association, in particular, will recommend that cinemas release “non-commercial” films. The first congress and founding meeting of the Union of Cinemas of Ukraine will take place on July 19 as part of the Odessa International Film Festival.