Relations with the Russians and the Office of the President. Journalists analyzed the companies that won the scandalous competition for film projects
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Bihus.Info journalists analyzed data on the companies that won the scandalous film project competition and found out that some of them have connections with representatives of the current Ukrainian government, and some worked with the Russians until the beginning of the full-scale invasion.
This is stated in a new investigation by Bihus.Info.
Before UP. Culture found out, that among the 53 winning projects announced in July this year, there are 13 documentaries and 40 feature films and series, including one animated one. Among the production companies whose projects were selected and will be produced at state expense: Film.ua, “Alhab” (former “Star Media”), productions of Igor Kolomoisky’s “1+1 Media” holdings, Viktor Pinchuk’s StarLightMedia, as well as “Kvartal 95” and others .
Together, they must produce 240 hours of Ukrainian-language content of various genres. For this, the state must pay 448 million hryvnias.
After the announcement of the results of the competition, perhaps the biggest scandal was caused by the inclusion of producer Yury Gorbunov with the TV series “SMT Ingulets”, for which 33 million hryvnias were to be allocated, among the winners. He told the story of two friends from Aitishnik, Maksym and Danylo, who flee from the shelling of Kharkiv and end up in the village of Ingulets, where everything is run by farmer Oleksiy Parovoz, nicknamed Batya. Many saw in this the hero of the owner of FC “Ingulets” Oleksandr Povoroznyuk, whose statements became the basis of last year’s hits.Vova, *bash them“, “I’m high“, “Install this shit“.
The future filming of such a series caused great resonance and criticism. Some of Gorbunov’s colleagues urged him not to take state funds for the series while Ukrainians themselves are collecting money for drones. The scandal reached such a scale that President Volodymyr Zelenskyi reacted. He stated that funds for such projects should be found outside the budget and asked the Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko to resign. Gorbunov himself initially defended his project, but eventually abandoned plans to film it with budget funds.
But, as Bihus.Info found out, the state-owned enterprise “Multimedia Platform for Foreign Broadcasting of Ukraine”, which is the manager of funds for TV series, continued to sign contracts with the winners of the scandalous competition after a short pause. So we decided to find out more about those who will shoot for state money.
Companies that worked with the Russians
One of the winners of the competition is the company “Filmstream” producer Vitaly Sirenko. Until the beginning of the full-scale invasion, she filmed TV series in Russian, with Russian actors in the main roles. In 2015, Sirenko himself founded the company “SV Sinema” in the Russian Federation. In 2017, this company presented the film “The Forgotten Woman” made with the support of the Moscow Department of Mass Media and Advertising, one of the producers of which was Sirenko.
| Russian actor Artem Alekseev on the set of the film by the Filmstream company. Photo: @vitaliy.sirenko / Instagram |
Currently, “Filmstream” will receive more than 30 million hryvnias for the production of three projects. These are the melodrama “Continuation of the Family” about four women who encounter a full-scale invasion of a maternity hospital on the front line, the melodrama “The Ferry” about lovers during the war and the anthology series “Anxious People” about how Ukrainians react to air raids.
Another company that will shoot with budget funds is founded by Sirenko in 2012 “Energy Film Production”. The producer declares that he has no relationship with this company. But in the documents submitted for the competition, in addition to the current owner Natalia Bogomolova, his e-mail address is indicated.
“Energy Film Production” received almost 40 million hryvnias for the production of three projects. These are the drama “My Cinema”, the series about a psychologist “Family Consultant” and the 12-episode melodrama “Ghostly Heritage”.
The company that filmed the scandalous “Yurik”
Another winner is the company “The basis of film production”. She received funds from the budget for the production of the film “Four Windows”, no information about which is available online.
This summer, the company was scandalized by its film “Yurik” about the evacuation of an 11-year-old boy from Mariupol. Spectators and residents of Mariupol criticized the game tape for its inaccurate depiction of the events in Mariupol. At first, the creators of “Yurika” announced that they would finalize it, and later they removed it from access altogether.
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| A frame from the movie “Yurik” |
Companies close to the authorities
Among the winners of the competition were a number of companies close to representatives of the authorities. For example, she is close to the ex-deputy head of the Office of the President Kyril Tymoshenko “Kinokit”. During Tymoshenko’s work at OP, she began to receive millions of budget hryvnias for the production of content for the Rada channel, which is now part of a news marathon. According to the results of the scandalous competition, Kinokit will shoot the film “Theatre of Combat”. There is no information about the plot and the amount of allocated funds yet.
Company “Mamas Production”, co-owned by Alla, the ex-wife of ex-Minister of Defense Oleksiy Reznikov, will receive almost 15 million hryvnias for the psychological-criminal series “Cronin” about a psychologist who worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and created his own center for psychological assistance. He will also shoot two more projects: “The Egg of Hell” and “Exit”, the amounts for the production of which have not yet been disclosed.
The company created in 2018 should receive 15 million hryvnias from the budget for film production “Light Communication”. Previously, she was exclusively engaged in shooting commercials, and after the beginning of the full-scale invasion, she began to shoot documentaries. For example, the film “What Shouldn’t Be” directed by Sasha Lidagovsky, whose film “Squat 32” was previously produced by the current head of the OP Andriy Yermak.
“Mainstream Pictures” producer and former business partner Yermak Artem Kolyubaeva received more than 20 million hryvnias from the budget for the production of three projects. These are the military drama “Mangrove Grove”, the military drama “One Big Family” and the drama about the blockade of Mariupol “Art in the Shadows”.
Earlier, Bihus.Info found out that this year Kolyubaev became the owner of shares in very different businesses. Among them is the production of UAVs, where his business partner was director of Russian origin Oleksiy Kiryushchenko, who, according to journalists, was a member of the film project competition commission.
Funds must also be received “Artforms Production Ukraine”, whose manager is the ex-wife of Oleksandr Tkachenko, Tetyana Hnyedash. The company will shoot a series about law enforcement officers called “OPG” for almost 16 million hryvnias.
Read also: TV series for everyone! The Ministry of Culture allocated 448 million for the production of television films
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