ArmInfo.Armenia and Russia plan to establish a Cinema Foundation to support joint film projects, Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky said during the meeting with Minister of Culture of Armenia Lilit Makunts, the press service of the Russian Culture Ministry informs. He recalled that he had previously discussed this idea with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan during his June visit to the republic.
"We have joint film projects, several years ago the film" Earthquake " was released, this year " Spitak " was presented, which received "Silver George "for the best direction at the latest Moscow International Film Festival," said Vladimir Medinsky, stressing that the two countries have quite a lot of interesting common themes that could form the basis of these or those movies.
According to him, a fund with a joint funding could act as a customer for both production and promotion of joint film projects, while the mechanism of its establishment "can be very simple", "without bureaucratic superstructure."
The fund can operate as a legal entity led by both the Armenian and Russian sides and an expert council that decide which projects to support. There can be both social and commercial films, "said Vladimir Medinsky, adding that he could allocate money for the commercial films, for example, on a return basis. Also, according to him, a format of private-state organization may also be considered.
"We can not only cover Russian and Armenian audiences, but also unite efforts to promote our films abroad, as the Russian and Armenian diasporas are quite largely represented worldwide," the Minister stressed. The Minister of Culture of Armenia, Lilit Makunts, for her part, considered the establishment of the Russian-Armenian film fund a good idea. "We need to understand what steps should be taken towards this end, understand the format and human and financial resources that are needed," she said, expressing confidence that such an organization would facilitate the emergence of new talented filmmakers. At the end of the meeting, Minister of Culture of Russia invited his counterpart to take part in the 7th St. Petersburg International Cultural Forum, which will be held between November 15 and 17 this year.