Revolt of the intermediaries

The recent debates around the Constitutional Court’s ruling on the compulsory dubbing of all foreign films into Ukrainian indicate that the operators in the Ukrainian film market are divided into two camps. The first group regards this decision as completely natural, while the other is offering a number of arguments to the effect that domestic film distributors are supposedly not prepared to switch to 100-percent dubbing.

The Day received a commentary on this issue from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Ukraine (MKT). It reads that the arguments of those who are opposed to dubbing could be regarded as well- grounded only if the Constitutional Court’s ruling had been issued abruptly. In reality, it is the final document in a series of normative acts that have been adopted on various official levels. First, there is Article 14 of the Law of Ukraine “On Cinematography,” whereby “all foreign films must be dubbed or subtitled in Ukrainian before being distributed in Ukraine.”

Resolution No. 20 of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, “Certain Questions on the Distribution and Screening of Films” (Jan. 16, 2006) envisages a gradual transition of film distribution in Ukraine to Ukrainian dubbing (20 percent of copies of each foreign film to be dubbed as of Sept. 1, 2006; 50 percent, as of Jan. 1, 2007; 70 percent, as of July 1, 2007). On Jan. 22, 2007, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Ukraine, and distribution and screening companies signed a memorandum of cooperation. This document legally sealed the voluntary (!) agreement between the MKT and distribution companies that provide 90 percent of the film production in Ukraine on the compulsory implementation of the Law of Ukraine “On Cinematography.” Distribution companies undertook to dub or subtitle into Ukrainians copies of foreign films as of Feb. 1, 2007, and by early 2008 to increase the number of such dubbed copies to 50 percent of the total number of copies of each imported film.

If all distribution companies had meticulously observed these regulations and arrangements, today they would be prepared for the transition to the dubbing of all foreign films into Ukrainian. In reality, no consistent efforts were made to carry out the established procedures.

There are 15 companies in Ukraine that specialize in the distribution of foreign films. Five of them acquire rights directly from film studios and supply copies to 70 percent of movie theaters. The rest distribute foreign films through Russian intermediary companies. The costs of adjusting foreign films to the linguistic environment of the country where the property rights are purchased are part of the original film studios’ expenses. In other words, there are no problems with dubbing films into Ukrainian for distributors doing business directly with the original studios. These problems are experienced by screening companies that act as intermediaries for Russia’s distribution companies.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism approaches these problem with understanding, but as a central executive authority, the MKT has been and will continue to discharge its functions exclusively within the framework of implementing the ruling of the Constitutional Court and Edict No. 868/2007 “On Measures to Facilitate Progress in National Cinematography,” signed by the president of Ukraine on Sept. 13, 2007.

In pursuance of this edict, the government of Ukraine must provide for:

— Speedy solutions to problems with regard to dubbing or subtitling of films, distribution of copies, including partial financing and equipping of national audio studios with Dolby digital equipment;

— Developing film/tape processing, copying, and disk-adjustment technologies;

— Exempting movie theater tickets from VAT, provided such movies are either of national or foreign origin and duly dubbed into Ukrainian;

— Refunding dubbing costs from the national budget for foreign motion pictures and experimental productions that are recognized as being of high artistic value (including art house films) and which are screened on a small scale (several copies of each).

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has drafted a series of measures aimed at supporting the distribution of domestic productions. Bills on protectionism in regard to national and foreign films dubbed into Ukrainian have been submitted to the Verkhovna Rada.

The ministry is prepared to refund dubbing costs with funds from the central budget for foreign motion pictures and experimental productions of high artistic value (including art house films), if so determined by the Board of Experts on Cinematography. Today several studios in Ukraine specialize in dubbing foreign films (ADIOZ PRODUCTION LTD., POST MODERN, NEVA-FILM UKRAINE, LEMMA RECORDING & POST PRODUCTION STUDIO). Speedy solutions are being found to problems linked to dubbing, doing voiceovers, subtitling, and copying films with funds from the national budget.