Moscow and Beijing have agreed to create a common film fund, the CEO of Russian direct investment has said
Russia and China are set to establish a joint film fund to promote each other’s cinema in both countries’ markets, the CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), Kirill Dmitriev, has announced.
RDIF was created in 2011 to attract direct and venture investments into the country. It will create new partnerships with Chinese media companies as part of a strategy to support Russian film products in the Chinese market, its CEO said. The agreement was sealed on the sidelines of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to China on Wednesday. It is the Russian leader’s first foreign trip of his new presidential term.
China is now the global leader in number of cinemas and is becoming a film industry powerhouse, Dmitriev noted, adding that this creates “significant opportunities for exports and distribution contracts in other countries, including Russia.”
“In this regard RDIF and Chinese partners are considering the creation of a joint film fund for the mutual promotion of films produced in Russia and China to the markets of both countries,” Dmitriev said.
In September, RDIF is planning to hold a Russian film festival in China, which will present modern Russian cinema to the Chinese audience, he announced. A Chinese film festival will then take place in Russia.
In cooperation with Chinese media partners, the Russian investment fund will focus on joint film production and further distribution of movies and animated films in Russia and China, according to Dmitriev.
In recent years, RDIF and China have implemented 50 bilateral projects with a total investment worth over 780 billion rubles ($8.5 billion). The revenue of portfolio companies in which RDIF’s Chinese partners had invested exceeded 4 trillion rubles ($43.9 billion), the equivalent of 2.5% of Russia’s GDP in 2023. These companies employed more than 600,000 people, according to RDIF data.
RDIF organized the mass production of Sputnik V, the world’s first registered Covid-19 vaccine developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute, in Russia and 18 other countries, including China, India, Brazil, Argentina and Iran.
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