Vadim Vereshchagin, CEO of leading Russian production and distribution company Central Partnership, says it’s time for the world to give a second look to Russian cinema—particularly the slick commercial titles that are racking up boffo box office back home.
“The key thing for us right now is to explain to the foreign buyers primarily, ‘Look, we’ve got great films. We’re not asking the same amount of money as Hollywood independent studios would. But you get the same [quality],’” he says.
Central Partnership began in the 1990s as a television production outfit, before branching out into distribution of mostly arthouse fare. In the early 2000s, it began moving toward mainstream titles, and since 2009 has been the exclusive distributor for Paramount Pictures in Russia. Its library includes films from top U.S. and European studios, as well as an extensive catalog of arthouse and commercial Russian movies.
The company’s current slate,...
“The key thing for us right now is to explain to the foreign buyers primarily, ‘Look, we’ve got great films. We’re not asking the same amount of money as Hollywood independent studios would. But you get the same [quality],’” he says.
Central Partnership began in the 1990s as a television production outfit, before branching out into distribution of mostly arthouse fare. In the early 2000s, it began moving toward mainstream titles, and since 2009 has been the exclusive distributor for Paramount Pictures in Russia. Its library includes films from top U.S. and European studios, as well as an extensive catalog of arthouse and commercial Russian movies.
The company’s current slate,...
- 6/7/2020
- by Christopher Vourlias
- Variety Film + TV
Next year's edition of the Moscow Film Festival (Miff) has been moved from its traditional dates in late June to April due to the soccer World Cup, which Russia will host from June 14 to July 15, the fest's president Nikita Mikhalkov announced.
Leonid Vereshchagin, a member of the festival's organizing committee, explained that the World Cup will be the main focus of attention in the capital and country in late June, also adding strain on the infrastructure.
"Holding the festival in its traditional dates will be impossible because of unavailability of hotel rooms, because of transport issues...
Leonid Vereshchagin, a member of the festival's organizing committee, explained that the World Cup will be the main focus of attention in the capital and country in late June, also adding strain on the infrastructure.
"Holding the festival in its traditional dates will be impossible because of unavailability of hotel rooms, because of transport issues...
- 11/10/2017
- by Vladimir Kozlov
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Exclusive: IMAX-shot disaster movie has sold to multiple territories.
Central Partnership has been racking up sales on its $21mn IMAX-shot disaster movie The Crew. The film has sold to France (Purple Pictures), Turkey (Atv), Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia (Suraya), Baltic States (Garsu).
The Crew was released in April in Russia and Cis and has been doing blockbuster business. It is now set to begin its international roll-out.
The Crew is produced by Leonid Vereschagin, Anton Zlatopolsky and Nikita Mikhalkov
Nikolay Lebedev directed the film based on the cult Soviet 1979 movie Air Crew, an eastern bloc variation on the American “Airport” movies of the 1970s.
Another next major Central Partnership production, Furious, is also provoking very strong interest among buyers.
The historical action drama tells the story of the seventeen warriors who fought against an army of thousands for the sake of their loved ones, their people and their country.
The film is still in production, but has already...
Central Partnership has been racking up sales on its $21mn IMAX-shot disaster movie The Crew. The film has sold to France (Purple Pictures), Turkey (Atv), Malaysia, Philippines, Cambodia (Suraya), Baltic States (Garsu).
The Crew was released in April in Russia and Cis and has been doing blockbuster business. It is now set to begin its international roll-out.
The Crew is produced by Leonid Vereschagin, Anton Zlatopolsky and Nikita Mikhalkov
Nikolay Lebedev directed the film based on the cult Soviet 1979 movie Air Crew, an eastern bloc variation on the American “Airport” movies of the 1970s.
Another next major Central Partnership production, Furious, is also provoking very strong interest among buyers.
The historical action drama tells the story of the seventeen warriors who fought against an army of thousands for the sake of their loved ones, their people and their country.
The film is still in production, but has already...
- 5/13/2016
- by geoffrey@macnab.demon.co.uk (Geoffrey Macnab)
- ScreenDaily
Marc Forster's anticipated summer blockbuster "World War Z" will open the 35th edition of the Moscow International Film Festival. The Brad Pitt-led film will screen at the festival on June 20th, the day before it opens Stateside. "World War Z" will kick off 10 days of screenings in Russia's capital, including the festival's competition program, which will include 10 films announced today as well (the remainder of the program will be announced at the end of May). Full press release below, including those announced films. Cannes - Saturday 18 May. Leonid Vereshchagin, Producer General of the 35th Moscow International Film Festival (20-29 June) announced today at the Russian Film Pavilion, the first 10 films in competition at the 35th Moscow International Film Festival and the opening gala premiere on 20 June of Marc Forster’s World War Z starring Brad Pitt. Vereshchagin outlined the programme for the festival to the press and industry accompanied by Kirill Razlogov.
- 5/20/2013
- by Peter Knegt
- Indiewire
From 20 to 22 of June 2009 within the Moscow International Film Festival, the Moscow
Co-production Forum will take place. The Forum is the business platform for the territory of Russia, providing a cooperative setting for Russian and international producers, focusing on realization of co-production projects.
On the one hand, international producers, financiers, distributors and other companies, investing in the film industry, will be offered Russian projects, focused by the content on co-production with other countries. On the other hand, Russian producers will have an opportunity to assess the options of participation in the implementation of international projects, presented during
the Forum and directly related to Russia.
The co-production projects’ pitching is the key Forum event. To participate in
the pitching which will select 12 film projects, about half of them - from Russia, producers will have 5 mintues to present the film project. Pre-scheduled meetings with potential partners will take place after the pitching.
Co-production Forum will take place. The Forum is the business platform for the territory of Russia, providing a cooperative setting for Russian and international producers, focusing on realization of co-production projects.
On the one hand, international producers, financiers, distributors and other companies, investing in the film industry, will be offered Russian projects, focused by the content on co-production with other countries. On the other hand, Russian producers will have an opportunity to assess the options of participation in the implementation of international projects, presented during
the Forum and directly related to Russia.
The co-production projects’ pitching is the key Forum event. To participate in
the pitching which will select 12 film projects, about half of them - from Russia, producers will have 5 mintues to present the film project. Pre-scheduled meetings with potential partners will take place after the pitching.
- 6/2/2009
- by Sydney@SydneysBuzz.com (Sydney)
- Sydney's Buzz
MOSCOW -- Russian director Nikita Mikhalkov is set to appear in and co-produce a film by veteran Polish helmer Krzysztof Zanussi that will shoot on location in Russia, Poland and Uruguay, the head of Mikhalkov's studio Three-T said Wednesday. Mikhalkov is completing a deal to produce the Russian end of the Polish-Italian co-production after accepting Zanussi's invitation to play a Latin American diplomat in Persona Non Grata, Three-T CEO Leonid Vereschtchaguine said in an interview. "We are close to a deal, and subject to that there should be 10 days of shooting in Moscow in September," he said.
- 4/29/2004
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
MOSCOW -- Oscar-winning director Nikita Mikhalkov (Burnt by the Sun) and Vladimir Potanin, head of financial group Interros, announced Wednesday $40 million plans to build a new Russian exhibition chain under the brand Cinema Park. Potanin, one of the few Russian businessmen to have emerged in a stable position following the country's financial meltdown four years ago, said Cinema Park would build a chain of theaters over the next two to three years of between 50 and 60 screens in Moscow, St Petersburg and later across the country. Cinema Park will be jointly controlled by Interros' holding company Profmedia and Mikhalkov's Moscow-based production entity Studio Tri Te. Mikhalkov will chair the board of directors. In addition to exhibition, the new company will plow money into local production, according to Studio Tri Te general director Leonid Vereshchagin.
- 9/26/2002
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Just as the lead character named Tolstoy suffers a little whenever he must own up to not being related to the famous Russian novelist, "The Barber of Siberia" is a sprawling, period epic that suffers in comparison to its rich cinematic and literary heritage. Prospects for a major American distribution deal are dim.
The much-anticipated opening film of the 52nd Cannes International Film Festival, and the first feature from director Nikita Mikhalkov since his Oscar-winning "Burnt by the Sun", "Barber" is ostensibly a love story, but not a very complex or compelling one. At nearly three hours, the mostly English-language film indulges in long sequences of Slavic-style comedy that don't necessarily further the story of an enigmatic American woman's love affair with a charismatic Russian army cadet.
Although she confidently attacks the role, Julia Ormond is allowed to indulge in far too many contemporary nuances in her performance as Jane, a lone woman in Czarist Russia circa 1885 on a mission to help desperate inventor McCracken (Richard Harris) secure funds to finish creating a steam-driven forest-harvesting machine, which he hopes will make him rich. Like most of the cast, she tries to keep the energy level high, but one never feels very connected to her character and rarely laughs with the bemused outsider at her zany hosts.
Oleg Menshikov as Cadet Tolstoy, on the other hand, is terrific as the passionate young man who meets Jane on the train to Moscow. They share some champagne in her compartment and a few laughs as his comrades fumble about. Later, they are both on the street in Moscow when mysterious shooters in black assassinate an official. In one of the film's best scenes, Tolstoy shows he's not the best soldier-in-the-making when he lets one of the assassins go free.
Jane visits McCracken's workshop and watches the old coot almost destroy his invention in one of many comic scenes that fall flat. The plan is for Jane to butter up one Gen. Radkov (Alexey Petrenko) in order to gain access to the grand duke -- a source of completion funds, if you will, for McCracken's tree "barber." Open, aggressive, a smoker and seemingly free to wed, Jane succeeds in charming Radkov, but Tolstoy is thoroughly smitten and obviously a much better match despite his lackluster social status.
From cadets polishing a dance floor to outdoor festivals with vodka-drinking bears to a climactic performance of "The Marriage of Figaro", there are some entertaining moments, but the pacing often slows to a crawl, and the framing device of the story -- Ormond's character revealing to her American Army recruit son his origins -- has weak ongoing gags involving gas masks and crude insults aimed at Mozart.
At one point, Tolstoy risks everything to fight a duel over Jane's honor. But he goes even further down the road to ruin when he becomes convinced she's playing all the angles, which she is. Still, he proposes to her, barely beating Radkov to the punch. She is then forced to reveal that she's not who she seems to be -- certainly not McCracken's daughter, as she claimed -- and relates a horrible fact about her past.
Eventually, as in seemingly all Russian love stories of this size and breadth, the lovers are separated -- he's sent off to prison for attacking Radkov in a jealous fit, and she goes back to the States. Ten years later, she accompanies McCracken to Siberia for a test of his machine and goes searching for Tolstoy, who settled there after serving his sentence.
While visually the film has some nice touches, with Mikhalkov working in widescreen for the first time, the overused narration of Ormond's character doesn't wait for one to absorb the story visually. Time and location titles are also employed needlessly, accentuating the overall stodgy feeling to the storytelling. The director has a splendid cameo as Emperor Alexander III, but Harris is disappointing as the mad inventor -- except for a shot of his character yelling on top of a train steaming through the forests in one of this film's rare transcendent moments, the kind one expects a lot more of from Mikhalkov.
THE BARBER OF SIBERIA
Camera One, ThreeProds.,
France 2 Cinema, Medusa, Barrandov Biografia
Michel Seydoux presents
In association with Intermedia Films
Director: Nikita Mikhalkov
Screenwriters: Rustam Ibragimbekov, Nikita Mikhalkov
Producer: Michel Sedoux
Executive producer: Leonid Vereschagin
Cinematographer: Pavel Lebeshev
Production designer: Vladimir Aronin
Editor: Enzo Meniconi
Costume designers: Natacha Ivanova, Sergey Struchev
Music: Edward Nicolay Artemyev
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jane: Julia Ormond
Tolstoy: Oleg Menshikov
McCracken: Richard Harris
Radkov: Alexey Petrenko
Running time -- 176 minutes
MPAA rating:...
The much-anticipated opening film of the 52nd Cannes International Film Festival, and the first feature from director Nikita Mikhalkov since his Oscar-winning "Burnt by the Sun", "Barber" is ostensibly a love story, but not a very complex or compelling one. At nearly three hours, the mostly English-language film indulges in long sequences of Slavic-style comedy that don't necessarily further the story of an enigmatic American woman's love affair with a charismatic Russian army cadet.
Although she confidently attacks the role, Julia Ormond is allowed to indulge in far too many contemporary nuances in her performance as Jane, a lone woman in Czarist Russia circa 1885 on a mission to help desperate inventor McCracken (Richard Harris) secure funds to finish creating a steam-driven forest-harvesting machine, which he hopes will make him rich. Like most of the cast, she tries to keep the energy level high, but one never feels very connected to her character and rarely laughs with the bemused outsider at her zany hosts.
Oleg Menshikov as Cadet Tolstoy, on the other hand, is terrific as the passionate young man who meets Jane on the train to Moscow. They share some champagne in her compartment and a few laughs as his comrades fumble about. Later, they are both on the street in Moscow when mysterious shooters in black assassinate an official. In one of the film's best scenes, Tolstoy shows he's not the best soldier-in-the-making when he lets one of the assassins go free.
Jane visits McCracken's workshop and watches the old coot almost destroy his invention in one of many comic scenes that fall flat. The plan is for Jane to butter up one Gen. Radkov (Alexey Petrenko) in order to gain access to the grand duke -- a source of completion funds, if you will, for McCracken's tree "barber." Open, aggressive, a smoker and seemingly free to wed, Jane succeeds in charming Radkov, but Tolstoy is thoroughly smitten and obviously a much better match despite his lackluster social status.
From cadets polishing a dance floor to outdoor festivals with vodka-drinking bears to a climactic performance of "The Marriage of Figaro", there are some entertaining moments, but the pacing often slows to a crawl, and the framing device of the story -- Ormond's character revealing to her American Army recruit son his origins -- has weak ongoing gags involving gas masks and crude insults aimed at Mozart.
At one point, Tolstoy risks everything to fight a duel over Jane's honor. But he goes even further down the road to ruin when he becomes convinced she's playing all the angles, which she is. Still, he proposes to her, barely beating Radkov to the punch. She is then forced to reveal that she's not who she seems to be -- certainly not McCracken's daughter, as she claimed -- and relates a horrible fact about her past.
Eventually, as in seemingly all Russian love stories of this size and breadth, the lovers are separated -- he's sent off to prison for attacking Radkov in a jealous fit, and she goes back to the States. Ten years later, she accompanies McCracken to Siberia for a test of his machine and goes searching for Tolstoy, who settled there after serving his sentence.
While visually the film has some nice touches, with Mikhalkov working in widescreen for the first time, the overused narration of Ormond's character doesn't wait for one to absorb the story visually. Time and location titles are also employed needlessly, accentuating the overall stodgy feeling to the storytelling. The director has a splendid cameo as Emperor Alexander III, but Harris is disappointing as the mad inventor -- except for a shot of his character yelling on top of a train steaming through the forests in one of this film's rare transcendent moments, the kind one expects a lot more of from Mikhalkov.
THE BARBER OF SIBERIA
Camera One, ThreeProds.,
France 2 Cinema, Medusa, Barrandov Biografia
Michel Seydoux presents
In association with Intermedia Films
Director: Nikita Mikhalkov
Screenwriters: Rustam Ibragimbekov, Nikita Mikhalkov
Producer: Michel Sedoux
Executive producer: Leonid Vereschagin
Cinematographer: Pavel Lebeshev
Production designer: Vladimir Aronin
Editor: Enzo Meniconi
Costume designers: Natacha Ivanova, Sergey Struchev
Music: Edward Nicolay Artemyev
Color/stereo
Cast:
Jane: Julia Ormond
Tolstoy: Oleg Menshikov
McCracken: Richard Harris
Radkov: Alexey Petrenko
Running time -- 176 minutes
MPAA rating:...
- 5/13/1999
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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