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BRICS CINEMAS AS ALTERNATIVES TO HOLLYWOOD

CONCEPT NOTE

Hollywood film industry nowadays is trying to promote cultural diversity, reforming the oscars. In contrast to the fixed formulas of western mainstream productions BRICs films are diverse by definition. the main objective of the 5th BRICs Film Festival is to contribute to the promotion of cultural, genre, and thematic diversity in parti- cular by screening films that reflect these attri- butes, which have already existed in the national approaches to cinematography and filmmaking. thus, this experience is particularly relevant and can be shared not only within the film industry community of BRICs countries but also with the other leading film industry representatives, 

 including Hollywood. 

THE GLOBAL FILM INDUSTRY

In 2018, global box office receipts amounted to Us $41.7 billion. When including box office receipts and the value of home entertainment sector as well, the global film industry was worth Us $136 billion in 2018. Hollywood is the oldest national, and now transnational, film industry in the world and remains the largest in terms of box office receipts. Indian cinema is the largest national film industry in terms of the total number of films produced, with 1,813 feature films released as of 2018.

NATIONAL APPROACHES TO THE FILM INDUSTRY IN BRICS COUNTRIES

the acronym BRICs stands for a group of five countries, e.g. Brazil, Russia, India, China, and south Africa, which is considered one of the most important international associations. nowadays the organization accounts for approximately 41% of the world population and has a significant role in the global economy. the major part of BRICs countries can be characterized by a highly developed film industry, a huge number of released movies, and by a large number of consumers as well. each member of the BRICs community cooperates, to a greater or lesser extent, with the other national industries in the field of producing feature films, exchanging technologies and locations, and promoting the content. every national film production and approach to filmmaking has its own distinctive features. Indian cinema, for instance, has been meeting the demand of the Asia-Pacific market for consuming the products of the film industry for decades. Popular Bollywood blockbusters are not the only kind of cinema in India. Regional production centers create films in compliance with the local cultural and linguistic approaches to the regional cinematography and filmmaking, including stylistic diversity. Chinese cinema is considered one of the fastest growing sectors of the last decades worldwide. some experts claim that the country will have the largest audience in the world by the end of 2020. the rapid growth of the Chinese film industry can be illustrated with the following example: this national film industry releases over 1,000 feature films annually. In 2018, box office receipts in China amounted to Us $9 billion including the income from streaming services, which is the third highest result after the United states and India. the proportion of local and foreign productions in the overall films’ box office earnings was 62% to 38%. Brazilian cinema had remained one of the leading film industries in Latin America for a long period of time. Despite several political upheavals, the national cinema of Brazil is continuing its revitalization; its further development is officially supported by national authorities as part of the state cultural policy. the development of the Russian film industry after the crisis, which was caused by the collapse of the soviet Union, has lead to a revitalization of the entire sector of national media. Russian cinematography has a huge number of notable histori- cal milestones, which are marked by well-known personalities and progressive ideas that have had a significant impact on the world film culture for ages. In this context, special attention is paid to the development of regional cinema in Russia as well as to the support of debut films, experimental cinema, children’s films, and to the foundation and support of the existing streaming services that provide the content to the audience. south Africa has begun to establish a new socio-political basis for further development of the national cinema. Due to the fact that the country has a number of unique natural places, i.e. film locations, this abundance of choices as well as quite low production costs are of great impor- tance for the members of the regional film industry community. thus, production costs in europe and in the United states are significantly higher than in south Africa.

THE FOLLOWING TOPICS ARE PROPOSED FOR DISCUSSION AT THE FORUM:

  • The overall situation regarding the development of national film industries in BRICs countries
  • Defining distinctive features of national film industries of BRICs countries, i.e. characteristics related to language, region, and a concept of ethnicity
  • Differences and similarities in local approaches to the film industry. the actual ratio of high-budget productions to low-budget productions and debut films: key obstacles and potential solutions
  • National systems of film education in BRICs countries
  • National systems of storage and preservation of audiovisual heritage
  • Various aspects of content promotion, e.g. organization of festivals and film distribution (both at national and international levels), foundation and support of film societies
  • Aspects of cooperation among film industry communities of BRICs countries
  • The impact of the CovID-19 pandemic on the film industry: potential solutions to overcome the crisis.