Cinemarket, or the Russian Film Industry in 'Mission Possible'

Abstract

TIE SOVIET FILM INDUSTRY had always relied on the state to finance and distribute its films. State-run film studios would produce the film, employ directors, actors and technical personnel, provide all the facilities for shooting and editing, and take charge of the distribution to state-owned cinemas. Audience considerations were not crucial for the funding of a film, although until 1983 state investments in the film sector as a whole were not only recouped through ticket sales, but returns would exceed expenditure.' Many of the films made in the 1960s and 1970s attracted over 50 million spectators, while 'auteur' or art-house films could be made without market pressures. Table 1 shows the top five films in distribution throughout the Soviet era (1917-91). (It is worth noting here that Mosfilm has produced, and therefore owns the rights to, the most popular films from the Soviet period, which makes the studio's film collection an attractive investment, as discussed below.) Table 1 also reflects the fact that the climax of popularity for cinema as an art form lies between 1965 and 1980. Attendance at cinemas reached its peak between 1960 and 1970 with an annual average of 20 visits per capita, and dropped to around eight visits per capita by 19902 (see also Figure 3). In view of the increase in television sets per household, rising steadily from about 1970 onward, it would follow that a decrease in the attendance at theatres and cinemas could be expected in the 1980s and 1990s. Alongside the consequent 'natural' loss of interest in cinema which had been predictable since the late 1980s, the system of film production and distribution collapsed completely with the demise of the Soviet state. What remained were large, unmanageable film studios which were gradually split up into small, independent production companies; some were partly privatised. At the same time, Goskino, the State Committee for Cinematography, continued to subsidise film production. Despite the crisis in production and distribution, and against all indicators speaking of a substantial drop in the number of spectators in cinemas, the number of films made remained stable at approximately 150 per year before it rose abruptly in 1990-91.3 Film production was thus an entirely artificial branch of industry: more films were produced than were in demand, and the films made were not the sort of films that would draw large audiences. The ensuing crisis in the film industry has become fully evident only since 1995, when the number of new films plummeted to a new low in the history of Russian and Soviet cinema, matched only by the lows reached during the Civil War and under Stalin.4