🎬 CIS Envisioned as a Single Cinematic Space

Moderated by Mikhail Shvydkoy the discussion featured prominent figures including Russian Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova, Head of the Moscow Department of Culture Alexey Fursin, and Channel One CEO Konstantin Ernst.

The central theme focused on shifting from a shared historical background toward pragmatic economic and technological collaboration—specifically through establishing a unified co-production market, providing access to filming locations, and deploying AI-powered dubbing.

Box Office Economics and Infrastructure Potential

“Filmmaking is an expensive enterprise,” Konstantin Ernst emphasized, pointing out a major challenge facing local markets across the Commonwealth. In many cases, an individual nation’s market lacks the scale needed to recoup high-budget productions. However, joint production and cross-border distribution dramatically reshape a project’s underlying financial model.

Panelists outlined concrete resources available for international collaboration:

• Alexey Fursin highlighted Moscow’s readiness to offer the facilities of the Moskino Cinema Park, indoor soundstages, and financial backing for projects designed from the outset to reach audiences across partner nations.
• Sergey Sarakach pointed to the capabilities of the Belarusfilm studio and its 80-hectare outdoor location site, Smolevood. Belarus offers non-repayable state grants for film production (approximately $6.5 million annually) as well as VAT exemptions.
• Dauren Abayev, Ambassador of Kazakhstan, noted the popularity of Kazakh filming locations among Russian producers (as seen in Finist: The First Warrior and The Wizard of the Emerald City). In turn, Tajikistan proposed compiling a comprehensive catalog of filming locations available across the CIS.

Practical Initiatives and Co-Production Institutions

To turn collaborative projects into a structured, reliable practice, participants put forward several key institutional proposals:

1. Co-Production Support Fund: Proposed by Mikhail Shvydkoy, this initiative aims to create a unified funding body for joint film ventures.
2. Equitable Distribution Framework: A proposal from Minsk to guarantee reciprocal screen allocations for partner-nation films across domestic theatrical circuits.
3. Unified Digital Infrastructure and Media Archive: Representatives from Tajikistan proposed launching a single digital platform to grant audiences access to the CIS film library, alongside a regular co-production market featuring pitch protection for completed scripts and budgets.
4. Education and Youth Film Labs: An emphasis on utilizing the VGIK branch in Tashkent, organizing a “CIS Short Story” competition, and founding a film award for member states of the International Organization for the Russian Language (an initiative led by Natalia Bocharova).

Technology and AI: Overcoming Language Barriers

A dedicated portion of the session was devoted to technological integration. Konstantin Ernst pointed to the vast potential of artificial intelligence for automated dubbing and lip-syncing. This technology makes it possible to preserve the original language track and nuances of an actor’s performance while making films seamlessly accessible to audiences in neighboring countries without language barriers.

Concurrently, Obid Nazarien, First Deputy Minister of Culture of Tajikistan, advocated for establishing unified guidelines for the ethical and legal application of AI in filmmaking—ensuring clear regulation of copyright and explicit actor consent regarding voice and likeness processing.

Panelists unanimously agreed that government ministries have laid the necessary groundwork. The next phase will depend on direct cooperation among producers, studio executives, and directors. The first working meetings under this updated framework are scheduled to take place on the sidelines of the Listapad Minsk International Film Festival.