Famous directors were removed from experts on state-supported cinema

The Ministry of Culture of Russia has almost completely renewed the composition of the expert councils of the Cinema Fund, which are engaged in the selection of films applying for state support. The order with the new composition of the councils is published on the website of the ministry.

According to the document, to which “Vedomosti” drew attention, four expert councils of the fund for the selection of game, non-game, children’s and animation films have changed radically.

In the updated composition of the councils, there are no more well-known directors Alexei Uchitel, Alexei Fedorchenko, Vladimir Khotynenko, Alexei Agranovich, producers Petr Anurov, Anton Zlatopolsky, screenwriters Lyubov Mulmenko, Roman Kantor, Konstantin Mayer, and film critic Andrei Apostolov. The General Director of the First Channel, Konstantin Ernst, and the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Soyuzmultfilm studio, Yuliana Slashcheva, were also removed from the team, writes “Interfax”.

At the same time, the council for selecting films for children and youth included two representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church, as well as actor Dmitry Pevtsov, who is part of the group investigating anti-Russian actions in the State Duma (GRAD, for example, demanded the dismissal of director Alexander Molochnikov and TV presenters Ivan Urgant and Alexander Vasilyev ). In addition, the number of representatives of the Ministry of Culture itself has increased in the renewed councils.

The composition of the expert councils was last updated in 2021. After the last rotation, their composition was significantly reduced. Even the largest council for the selection of feature films, as noted by “Vedomosti”, has been reduced by 2.7 times to 23 experts.

In 2023, it is planned to spend more than eleven and a half billion rubles on state support for films that were selected by expert councils in December 2022.