Film director Aleksey German Jr. told National News Service on August 11 that Russian cinema is failing because producers force directors to copy cheap plots. He said the main problem facing the industry right now is choosing the wrong path of development, with creators focused on earning money rather than making great or talented work.
German Jr. expressed agreement with director Pavel Lungin, who complained about the rise of economic censorship in filmmaking. Lungin said Soviet directors could hold discussions and defend their positions, but modern economic censorship prevents dialogue because movies are shot strictly for profit.
Soviet censorship and economic pressure
German Jr. noted that Soviet censorship banned several fine films loved by audiences, including works by directors Georgiy Daneliya and Eldar Ryazanov. He said that censorship weakened Soviet cinema and caused it to yield to Hollywood. However, he warned that modern filmmakers make a huge mistake by promoting bandits and imbeciles because it is easier to collect money.
German Jr. said Russian cinema must choose between making national-oriented films with poorly acted fairy-tale characters or creating innovative, talented stories for people. He said producers currently prefer the first approach, driving global box office earnings for Russian films down to ridiculous figures.
He added that art is created by complex and inconvenient people who must work for sincere storytelling rather than creating archaic parodies of Hollywood. German Jr. pointed out that audiences worldwide watch new Spider-Man movies and films by Christopher Nolan, while nobody watches Russian fairy tales.
