Indian filmmakers have shown interest in filming in Russia

From January 27 to January 30, The Shanghai Cooperation Organization Film Festival hosted a film market, within which the Roskino company, with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Russia, organized a Russian pavilion. Filming locations in Russia, film commissions of Russian regions, as well as opportunities for joint film production were widely presented on the site.

The Russian pavilion attracted a lot of attention from an international professional audience. Indian producers expressed their willingness to participate in business tours in Russia. Foreign cinematographers showed particular interest in the possibilities of filming in Moscow, Khanty-Mansiysk, Kaliningrad and other Russian cities.

"India is one of the two Asian countries with which Russia has an agreement on joint film production (since September 2019), which provides an opportunity for state support of a co–production project. It is in joint projects and partnerships that we see a special potential, and Russia's participation in the SCO festival is a new stage for the development of the film industries of our countries," said Dmitry Davidenko, Director of the Department of Cinematography and Digital Development of the Ministry of Culture of Russia. – "The Indian side shows great interest in filming in Russia, new and inaccessible film locations in India, working with Russian directors and producers."

According to Dmitry Davidenko, systematic work on the development of bilateral cooperation in the field of cinematography will lead to the emergence of new interesting film projects, as well as open up prospects in other segments of the creative industry.

Inna Shalyto, General Director of Roskino, stressed: "The request for new locations for filming by foreign producers and directors confirms the timeliness of ROSKINO's new project – the organization of location tours - with the support of the Ministry of Culture of Russia. We intend to implement a series of familiarization tours for cinematographers from different countries this year, and the SCO Film Festival has already set certain benchmarks, showed areas of interest and specific directions that we are already starting to work on. The Russian film industry is open to cooperation, and we are ready to show the international professional film community the beauty and diversity of natural and urban landscapes, as well as the capabilities of production and service companies."

The industrial dialogue between the Russian and Indian film industries at the SCO Film Festival also concerned the expansion of joint film production. In April, as part of the business program of the 45th Moscow International Film Festival, Roskino, together with representatives of the Russian and Indian film industries, expects to discuss concrete steps to create joint projects and film topics that may be of interest to both Russian and Indian viewers at the same time. Also in 2023, cooperation will continue with the largest South Asian content market Film Bazaar in India, where Roskino is again planning to organize the participation of Russian companies under a single brand Russian Content Worldwide and present a wide range of projects.

An important result of the meetings within the framework of the film market at the SCO Countries festival was the agreement on holding cross–events in 2023 on the territory of both countries - the days of Indian cinema in Russia and the days of Russian cinema in India.

Seven films were presented in different sections of the screening:

– "Accomplices" (dir. Evgeny Grigoriev, 2021) – competition program;

– "Don't Bury me without Ivan" (directed by Lyubov Borisova, 2022) – competition program;

– "The Heart of Parma" (directed by Anton Megerdichev, 2022) – SCO Country Focus section / "Focus on the SCO countries";

– "Mr. Knockout" (dir. Artem Mikhalkov, 2022) – SCO Country Focus section / "Focus on the SCO countries";

– "Ivan Denisovich" (directed by Gleb Panfilov, 2021) – Director Focus section / "Focus on the director";

– "Chink: The Tailed Detective" (directed by Grigory Vozhakin, 2022) – Children Focus section / "Focus on the children's audience";

– "My Friend the Tiger" (dir. Tatiana Kiseleva, 2021) – short film section.