Andrei Kureichyk: A new interesting sector will appear in Belarus – illegal movies

budzma.by

Why does the state need to scare off investors? Cinematographers tell about sabotage of separate officials.

According to the draft presidential decree, it will soon be possible to shoot films in our country only with the permission from the authorities and after giving them money.

Independent filmmakers will have to get “a certificate issued by the Ministry of Culture or its authorized organization(s) in accordance with the law on administrative procedures in the form prescribed by the Ministry of Culture”.

Besides, before the shooting filmmakers will need to bring or send a script or a description of the future film. Several expert committees then check whether there are elements of pornography, incitement to violence and cruelty, incitement to extremist activity, and so on. And only after 3 months it will be known if the movie can be made or not. And if, nevertheless, the filmmaker will be allowed to film, he or she will need to pay a special state fee - in the amount of 1-20 basic units, i.e. from 180 thousands up to 3,600 thousand rubles. Only then will you get the coveted certificate of the legality of your actions.

The decree will hit at the young promising directors, documentarians, producers, festival organizers, and other workers of the movie industry.

Director and playwright Andrei Kureichyk was the first to report about the elaboration of draconian decree. "After this decree there will be no more independent cinema in this country," he commented on the decree.

On September 17 cinematographers wrote an open letter to Aliaksandr Lukashenka hoping that they will be able to avert the threat of the decree’s adoption. They named the project “sabotage done against the President by some officials in the preelection period”.

Next day “Belarusfilm” by initiative of Ihar Porshneu, its new head gathered cinematographers in order to discuss a draft decree under the eloquent title "On some issues of film production in the Republic of Belarus and encouraging development of cinema industry". The meeting wasn’t attended by anyone from the Ministry of Culture.

Andrei Kureichyk was present at the above-mentioned meeting, that’s why he eagerly told the details and his vision of the consequences of this decree to the “EuroBelarus” Information Service.

- Andrei, what is awaiting our cinema after the adoption of the decree and will you shoot movies in Belarus in new conditions?

- It will be hard to shoot movies in Belarus, but we still will be trying to develop art and cinema art there. I don’t think that someone will be trying to get some permission. Just a new interesting sector will appear in Belarus – illegal movies.

I don’t know why the state needs it – to take away a huge number of young enthusiasts and people, who just want to develop art in this country. The goals of this decree are absolutely unclear for me. Cinematographers gathered together and tried to understand them; but they didn’t manage to. This decree doesn’t fulfill any tasks for stimulating or developing and creating better conditions for cinematography. Vice versa, these conditions worsen only for new bureaucratic hindrances to appear and create environment for different misuses in this sphere.

Basically, this is a signal to investors: you don’t need to go there under any conditions. You will invest in the project, start preparing it, but won’t get permission. And you’ll loose everything.

This is also a signal for the young not to write scenarios. Only a fool will be writing a scenario to get advice from some official in the ministry of how to shoot movies. That’s why the decree is harmful in everything and brings no positive.

There were no officials at that meeting of cinematographers; they are not very interested in our opinion. “Belarusfilm” gathered the whole spectrum of our cinema: documentarians, producers of basically all large private companies, young directors, and cinema schools. And, surprisingly, everyone shared the same opinion and was talking about the harm that the decree brings, even the head of the “Belarusfilm” Porshneu.

The decree is unacceptable in the form it is now. Absolute majority disagreed with this project and offered not to adopt it under any circumstances.

A decision to establish a working group in order to propose something to the ministry was made. Its membership includes representatives of film studio, private producers, companies that are providing services for light and sound. But, unfortunately, no one came from the ministry, though they knew that this meeting was going to happen. The signal to the cinematographers was the following: we will adopt this decree no matter what.

- In the open letter of cinematographers, addressed to the head of Belarus, the decree is called the subversion of officials against the president on the eve of the elections. Can you agree with this statement?

- I agree, since cinematographers didn’t write the draft decree; the officials wrote it. As I understand, it is lobbied by Iryna Dryha (first deputy Minister of Culture, former ideological worker from the presidential Administration that never approved Zmicier Vaitsiushkevich’s concerts – EuroBelarus).

It is a fact that this project antagonizes people against the president. In the end, it is the presidential decree, not the Ministry of Culture’s. That undermines the authority of the state among artists.

The letter will be sent in a day or two, when everyone willing to will sign it.

- In your opinion, who will get benefits from this decree?

- I don’t know. Someone invented “parasites”, someone invented regulating everything and everyone. It looks like there is a wing of those who don’t want independent movies to appear. When officials cannot influence my project or some independent movie it irritates and annoys them. I see no other goals; this paper brings nothing positive or constructive.

No everything will need to be approved. But what are the commissions and who are the people in them? That I don’t understand.

- Today you are leaving Belarus. Does it have to do with your projects abroad?

- I will go to write a scenario about one Moscow firm – a full-length movie that will soon be shot. In Russia.

If this decree is adopted, there will hardly be any shooting here. If cinematographers need no permissions in Russia, why should they bother coming here? They are normal people after all…