A total of 26 applications were received from local film producers. The names of the winners of the qualifying stage were announced at a meeting held on May 23 at the Sinet Group office. This year, in honor of its 20th anniversary, the company established the cinema and animation development Fund "Sinet Sakhawood ". It is designed to support Yakut films that motivate development or have export potential.
This year, the total amount of grants allocated by the fund amounted to five million rubles. The film projects "Vanhun" by Alexey Romanov and "Egor Chaerin" by Nyurgun Ivanov received grants in the amount of 500 thousand rubles. The films "Beyberikeen-2" by Konstantin Timofeev, "Scarecrow" by Dmitry Davydov, "Haar Kynat" by Marianna Skrybykina and the animated series "Batas-Bootur" by Evgeny Osipov were allocated one million rubles each. Also, in addition to grants, film projects will receive free information and advertising support on the Ykt media platform.
"Thank you for developing Yakut cinema", Arsen Tomsky, founder of Sinet Group, addressed the cinema professionals, “We want to help the Yakut film industry achieve success in foreign markets and we are taking the first step in this direction. If this support proves effective, we will continue the work of the foundation, gradually increasing the size of grants. Yakutia is a unique place in terms of talent, creativity and passion of its inhabitants. And if we, together with other companies and entrepreneurs, support talents, add our expertise and experience in expanding into international markets, this can have a huge effect in the future and will allow us to create a large non-resource industry from Yakut cinema and animation with a large number of jobs and tax deductions. We are also convinced that we, having a powerful inspiring potential, can motivate young people to develop through cinema."
Arsen Tomsky also told the audience that in early June, Sinet Group, with the participation of Sakhafilm and Lena Cinema, will conduct an a/b testing in Kazakhstan, showing Almaty residents five Yakut films of different genres. Based on the statistics obtained and the results of the survey, if Kazakhstans show interest, a genre will be selected and a team will be formed that will specifically shoot a film with an eye on the 18 million Kazakh audience.
Sinet Sakhawood will allocate a separate additional grant for this project. This is a very interesting and important project, the result of which may be the first case of large-scale commercial promotion of Yakut cinema in foreign markets.
About film projects supported by the foundation
Which of the republican directors received the support of the Sinet Sakhawood Foundation?
Dmitry Davydov is rightfully called a nugget director. He was born and raised in Amga, worked as a primary school teacher, then as a school principal in the neighboring village of Chapchylgan. He started making small amateur films with his students and one day decided to make a real movie. He sold his car, borrowed money and in two weeks shot the drama "Bonfire in the Wind", which conquered the world cinema community. His debut film was highly appreciated at film festivals in Russia, South Korea, Australia, Canada, Norway, Germany and a number of other countries. Dmitry uses a grant from the Sinet Sakhawood Foundation for shooting his new film “Scarecrow”.
The founder of the ART Doydu studio, producer Marianna Skrybykina is currently working with the team on a major film project "Haar Kynat". Marianna is known as the producer of some of the most successful Yakut films. These are the films "My Killer", "Ayyy Uola", "Leaving the fragrant Harbor". Thanks to the efforts of Skrybykina and her colleagues, the detective "My Killer" was released in 2016 in federal rental.
The young director Konstantin Timofeev is known to the Yakut people as the author of the film "Hara Bekir - the Black Demon" and the film adaptation of everyone's favorite fairy tale "Beyberikeen". The premiere of the film about the old lady took place this spring. Now Konstantin is going to start shooting the second part of this picture.
"I hope my example motivates our directors to start making films about our Yakut fairy tales", the director said in an interview to News.Ykt.Ru, “No one has done this before me. I want to believe that future generations will see this picture and will want to make films based on our fairy tales themselves."
Alexey Romanov - the first professional Yakut director, known to the audience for the films "Maappa", "Middle World", "Saasky Kem", is currently working on the international film project "Vanhun".
"We plan to shoot this picture together with Chinese partners," said Alexey Romanov to News.Ykt.Ru, “Negotiations are underway now. I will not reveal the plot yet, I will only say that it will be an adventure film about a blogger from China."
Evgeny Osipov is known in the Yakut cinema environment as a director, cameraman and specialist in computer graphics and everything related to photography and videography. Together with Stepan Burnashev he shot the film "Hara Dyai", also was a cameraman in the comedy "Hectare". Now Evgeny is going to make an animated film in the fantasy genre about the struggle of the booturs (heroes) from the Middle World with abaasy (demons).
"My team and I plan to start working on the project in the fall," Evgeny Osipov told News.Ykt.Ru, “The audience will see the film next year. We have been hatching the idea of this project for a long time, and now with the help of the foundation we will be able to realize the idea. Such support is very motivating and gives you the opportunity to realize yourself."
Another project that received a grant is the patriotic war drama "Egor Chaerin" by producer Nyurgun Ivanov. This is a film adaptation of the story of the Yakut front-line soldier, writer and poet Timofey Smetanin. The work on the film has been going on for several years, and now the authors of the project will have the opportunity to complete it.
"To create a film based on the work of Smetanin was a long-standing dream of our friend, the artist Arkady Novikov," Nyurgun Ivanov told News.Ykt.Ru, “Unfortunately, he passed away in 2015б and we want to fulfill his wish. The theme of the Great Patriotic War, of course, is very difficult and requires a special approach, but to make this film is our duty in honor to Arkady Mikhailovich. We plan to release the film by November 25 this year. On this day, the centenary of the birth of the writer Timofey Smetanin will be celebrated."
"It was a big surprise for me to receive the grant," Nyurgun added, “Emotions are overwhelming, thoughts are in my head: does this happen in life at all? I still can't believe it. We hope to meet the expectations of the audience. I think the film will be interesting: the script turned out to be great, and many talented artists were involved in the filming."
"Despite the growing popularity of Yakut cinema from year to year, which is often called a unique phenomenon, individual films receive support", the representatives of the foundation said, summing up the selection of projects. We invite other Yakut companies and entrepreneurs to also support the Yakut film industry and together give it a significant impetus for further development."