- Share this article on Facebook
- Share this article on Twitter
- Share this article on Flipboard
- Share this article on Email
- Show additional share options
- Share this article on Linkedin
- Share this article on Pinit
- Share this article on Reddit
- Share this article on Tumblr
- Share this article on Whatsapp
- Share this article on Print
- Share this article on Comment
Ukrainian producers are predicting hard times ahead for filmmakers in the crisis-stricken country.
National film funding had been falling year on year over the past three years, despite earlier promises that it would rise. Grants this year are expected to be around $13.5 million — $4 million less than last year, the Motion Picture Association of Ukraine says.
PHOTOS: 25 of the Most Anticipated Foreign Films of 2014
“The idea has been to increase funding each year, but actually since 2012 it has dropped each year,” association head Igor Savychenko told The Hollywood Reporter. “A lot of projects were launched and are still trying to complete financing.”
Delays by the country’s state film agency in December to set a budget for 2014 were having a knock-on effect, and producers are expecting there to be only one round of project pitching this year instead of two, Savychenko added.
A date for the first, possibly only pitching session is due to be announced in mid-February, probably after the closing of the Berlin Film Festival.
The delays and budget shortfall — in 2012, $23 million (17 million euros) was available; last year, $17.5 million (13 millin euros) — were not directly related to Ukraine’s current political stalemate, now in its third month of standoffs between the government and opposition activists, who are occupying buildings and barricaded streets and squares in the center of Kiev.
But the crisis certainly hasn’t helped, Savychenko noted.
Related Stories
THR Newsletters
Sign up for THR news straight to your inbox every day