>With regard to cinema -- I am far from an expert -- the best cinema usually
>comes from countries that have government sponsorship. Where is the
Australian
>cinema now that the government does not support it? Even the Soviets under
>Stalin produced some excellent films.
>--
>
>Michael Perelman
The New York Times, March 7, 1990, Wednesday, Late Edition - Final
When World Raves, Studios Jump
By GERALDINE FABRIKANT
A rapidly growing market for American films abroad is encouraging American
studios to pay closer attention to foreign moviegoers.
The success of some recent films in markets outside the United States is
striking. As big a hit as the film ''Fatal Attraction'' was in the United
States, it has made even more money at the box office overseas. So has last
year's winner of the Oscar for best film, ''Rain Man.'' Even ''Cocktail,''
with the all-American actor Tom Cruise playing the lead role of a
bartender, has done better at the box office abroad.
American movies have for decades attracted larger international audiences
than those of any other nation. American film exports exceed film imports
by $3 billion annually, said Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture
Association of America. Last year foreign revenues constituted about 38
percent of total industry revenues, up from 30 percent in 1980, said Fritz
Attaway, the association's senior vice president for government relations.
More Overseas Theaters
Most industry experts agree that in the coming decade the percentage of
foreign revenues will grow further as more theaters are built abroad and
secondary markets like cable and broadcast television are expanded. Just
yesterday, Time Warner Inc. announced joint venture with the Soviet film
industry for the construction of a movie theaters in Moscow and Leningrad.
[Page D8.] A result of the growth overseas is that an increasing number of
films are being made with some consideration of their appeal abroad. Stars
like Sean Connery, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Eddie Murphy are able to
command huge salaries in part because of the certainty that their presence
in a movie will give it greater appeal around the world.
(clip)
===
The Guardian (London), October 2, 1992
FROM RUSSIA WITH GREAT DIFFICULTY; Ideology is out, commercialism in. But
the bucks stop here. Moscow film school, the world's oldest - set up by
Lenin in 1919 and set free by the collapse of the Soviet system last year -
is finding capitalism's comforts rather cold, says Erin Cotter
By ERIN COTTER
SERGEI and Alexander throw themselves against opposite walls and somersault
upright again, their arms raised high and fists clenched. Sergei kicks Alex
in the face. He falls to the floor cradling his nose. "Good," says the
instructor, "now the other way around."
Sergei and Alex are actors practising stunts at the Moscow film school -
now known as VGIK. It is a new part of their syllabus, created to
accommodate changing Russian tastes and to compete with popular western
action and adventure movies.
Opened in 1919, VGIK is the oldest film school in the world. Its grand
facade befits its international reputation and status. The interior,
however, is conspicuously empty of furniture and equipment.
In the office of Tatiana Storchak, vice-rector of VGIK, a smell of cabbage
and fat wafts from the canteen. "One thing we have here is constant
warmth," she says. "That is, until they deregulate power, as Yeltsin
threatens to do." Storchak is the school's international coordinator. She
puts her students' films into festivals and helps them understand the
capitalist approach to film making.
We are constantly interrupted by students: What does going to tender mean?
What is copyright? Who shall I approach for sponsorship?
"Can you imagine, our producers spent five years learning how to make a
film within the old Soviet system," Storchak explains. "Now it is
meaningless. They must be totally re-educated to understand commercial film
making."
This change stems from the collapse two years ago of the Soviet film
ministry, created in August 1919 by Lenin, who believed "cinema for us is
the most important of all the arts". Throughout its existence, the ministry
funded VGIK with the profits of the Soviet film industry, over which it
exercised effective political control.
Initially, film makers and students were euphoric when the demise of the
ministry freed them to make the films they wanted. Today many question that
judgment: production costs have soared and the open market is being swamped
with films from the West. VGIK is struggling to survive.
(clip)
Louis Proyect
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