President Viktor Yushchenko has sent a letter today to Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko drawing attention to the issues of national cinematography and Ukrainian language in filmmaking in particular, president's press office reported.
According to the President, main problem areas are:
-low number of nationally produced films due to insufficient state financing;
-absence of state support during these films production and distribution;
-lack of access to nationally produced films by Ukrainian viewers living in rural areas due to low numbers of cinemas and to inappropriate cinematography infrastructure.
Regarding the abovementioned as well as Presidential Decree “On promotion of national cinematography development” of September 13, 2007, V. Yushchenko requested the government to apply proper measures. Among them are:
- tripling state financing of national film making industry.
- resolving issues with dubbing, soundtracks preparation and subtitling of foreign films in Ukrainian as well as creating proper modern sound and film processing facilities.
- introduction VAT free tickets in cinemas for nationally produced films and films dubbed in Ukrainian.
- state financing of dubbing of certain films especially of substantial artistic value.
