Festival co-founders Gevorg Nersissyan and Savva Koulish want to expand Vyborg's programme to give further encouragement to independent and state help to film production and distribution and to show Europe what the Russian film industry is producing
Producer-general of the festival, Gevorg Nersissyan
Welcome to the most civilised place in the most breathtaking, cultural and promising area of Russia,' is how economist-turned-filmmaker Gevorg Nersissyan greets his festival guests. Nersissyan, 36, is probably the youngest domestic festival producer, and one of the most ambitious. In 1993 he set up REKA (Russian European Cinema Association) with leading domestic filmmakers, such as Savva Koulish and Marlen Khutziev; as a producer, Nersissyan has released four titles.
REKA helped to lay the foundations for the first 'Window to Europe' festival in Vyborg, as well as other film initiatives. Despite original pessimistic predictions, Nersissyan has helped to build up the impressive reputation of 'the most elegant and European-culture-oriented film event in Russia'.
'The aim of the festival is to create a link between independent and state companies to support the best domestic films in post-production and distribution,' says Nersissyan. 'It also helps to find new channels of distribution for domestic films to the Baltic states, to both East and West European markets.'
Nersissyan promised free admissions for the festival showings, which resulted in carte blanche support from the local authorities in Vyborg. He was also given a green light for discounted rates in the 300-bed three-star hotel, built a few years ago by a Finnish company. Transportation fees were lowered on the Vyborg Moscow railway and local company Delta Telecom provided competitively priced communications facilities.
Two powerful sponsors joined the festival this year. Kodak's Moscow office set up a special prize for two competition titles: 50,000 metres of film stock. NTV (a booming domestic independent broadcaster) gave the festival TV coverage, acquired two domestic titles and financed post-production of a Russian feature. 'I regard all this as professional recognition of the festival,' Nersissyan comments.
Of course, each year the festival becomes more expensive. Vyborg '96 was affected by the economic crises in the industry and the country. Against expectations, only a third of its budget was financed from the sources in time, Nersissyan says. Moreover, domestic film production in 1995/96 has dramatically nose-dived;12 domestic titles out of 25 available were selected for competition.
'Anyway, we do our best to keep afloat,' he says, 'and to win further enthusiastic supporters from state and business organisations, financing groups, and from the cultural scene.' Nersissyan keeps working to expand the festival infrastructure, aiming for top-level standards of organisation, services, logistic support, and so on. He points to a local hotel complex, currently under construction, which will expand the festival zone.
The festival will soon have a permanent office in Vyborg, where bright local youngsters will start preparing for Vyborg '97.
With the Moscow Film Festival postponed until 1997, Vyborg has become the year's second most important domestic film event. Nersissyan is more optimistic because soon Vyborg will, hopefully, become a free-economy zone, which means the state will give it special tax privileges and economic incentives.
