The Association of Cinema Owners (AVK) proposed to remove the responsibility from cinemas for showing foreign films without the consent of the copyright holders.

AVC member Roman Isaev told Interfax about this.

In an interview with RT, he explained that now, if unlicensed tapes are shown, it is cinemas that will fall under administrative and criminal liability, and if there is none, then the halls will be able to broadcast foreign films on the screen without risk.

“In the existing legislative field, of course, for showing films without the consent of the copyright holder and without a distribution certificate, both criminal and administrative liability is provided for under two articles of the Code of Administrative Offenses, Art.

146 of the Criminal Code, as well as this story is regulated by part 4 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, ”said Roman Isaev.

As part of the first administrative protocol, if a film is released without a certificate, the owner of the cinema can be sent to the Magistrate's Court, and he also faces a fine of 100,000 rubles, Isaev explained.

However, in connection with the unfriendly actions of Western companies, the courts can reduce this amount by half.

By the way, as the expert said, parallel imports, due to their “legal regulation”, cannot be applied to cinemas.

Roman Isaev clarified that this is only permissible with material things such as jeans, cars or mobile phones.

Movies, on the other hand, are “a digital file and do not fall under parallel import.”

The AVK member noted that the film business in the country is “on the verge of death”, the expert predicts the closure of up to 50% of cinemas by the end of summer, and the only thing that can help is “the contractless use of the rights to films of those companies that have suspended their activities in Russia, that is, the Hollywood majors.

“In order to decriminalize the consequences of these actions for cinemas, we prepared and sent to both the State Duma and the government of the Russian Federation a number of legislative amendments to the relevant articles.

And a draft government decree has been prepared, which would suggest an algorithm and format for the non-contractual use of rights - something that could give cinemas the opportunity to earn some money and withstand this situation, ”the expert explained.

He added that the decision and elaboration of all the ensuing tasks further remain with the government.

  • © Frame from the film "Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore"

The deplorable state of the film business was also noted by the head of the film distribution department of the Provzglyad company, Anton Nekhoroshev.

He said cinema attendance had already fallen "to critical levels."

“Some — I can’t say it’s a big part — cinemas have already closed.

Some make a decision to reduce activities or suspend activities, ”Nekhoroshev said in a conversation with RT.

He noted that issues related to the rights to films of companies that independently left the Russian market are not regulated clearly enough in the country, but piracy is also not allowed, and many cinemas resort to it “at their own peril and risk”, because “ are on the brink of closing.

Anatoly Sergeev, general director of Kinologistika, in turn, believes that the distribution of films without a license "will throw the country back into the 1990s."

“People who were engaged in cinemas at that time told me that it was possible to import one copy of the film into Russia and monetize it endlessly.

Just not reporting to anyone, not sharing with anyone - they lived amazingly.

Many people remember these crazy times with a mean tear.

I would not like such times, we still live in a market economy, the strongest survive, this is understandable.

I would like the state to help cinemas, ”Sergeev said.

As the expert said, in Russia already more than 100 cinemas violate the law and show foreign films without a distribution certificate: “And they exist in the “gray” legal field.

Now all sorts of fines can be applied to them.”

However, according to Sergeev, illegal methods of displaying Hollywood films will not save the film business in Russia, since viewers will not want to pay money for "pirates" that can be watched for free at home.

“When you take someone else’s film and just put it in cinemas, you won’t get the effect that was before for one simple reason: the viewer is not a fool and understands that this is a pirated movie, and supporting it is such a dubious thing,” said specialist.

Anatoly Sergeev is sure that the current problem of the low flow of viewers to the cinema is the lack of a proper advertising campaign.

Managers of major Hollywood companies devoted the lion's share of time and money to ensure that the film was known from various sources.

According to Sergeev, outdoor advertising plays a crucial role in the viewer's interest in the film.

Among other things, the desire of cinemas to increase revenue through unlicensed distribution may adversely affect the industry in the future.

The director general of Kinologistics recalled that The Walt Disney office currently operates in Russia and monitors all violations.

“And cinemas will be punished accordingly.

In this case, they will be the first to suffer,” notes Anatoly Sergeev.

Roman Isaev also believes that showing foreign films without a license will negatively affect relations with foreign film companies in the future.

However, given the current situation, cinemas were left with no choice.

In addition, it is still difficult to guess when Hollywood will return “high-profile” films to Russia, the specialist believes.

“The feeling that the film industry has at the moment is that Hollywood will not return within the next two years ... Yes, of course, this issue is very important, it worries everyone, but now it has faded into the background,” explains Roman Isaev.

Parallel Import and Compulsory Licensing

Earlier, State Duma deputy Sultan Khamzaev proposed a parallel import of Hollywood films.

The politician believes that Russia should be allowed to show foreign films without the consent of the copyright holders, but at the same time offer them to send invoices to the Russian Federation to receive a percentage of the screening.

  • © Shot from the movie "Thor: Love and Thunder" (2022)

The parliamentarian, in a letter to the Minister of Culture Olga Lyubimova, noted that many citizens turn to him with complaints about difficulties in the film industry.

For this reason, Khamzaev believes that there are not enough films in the current movie poster to attract domestic viewers.

“I believe that the parallel import of foreign films is a necessary measure aimed at supporting cinemas and our film distribution.

Over time, if we have enough of our own cinema, we will be able to abandon this measure.

In the meantime, it seems possible to introduce such a practice with the opening of a special account, from which subsequently film rights holders will be able to receive their own percentage from the screenings of their films in Russia, ”RIA Novosti quotes Khamzaev.

The parliamentarian also said that this initiative was supported by the special representative of the President of the Russian Federation for international cultural cooperation Mikhail Shvydkoy.

In April, it became known that the Russian authorities were preparing a bill on "compulsory licensing" of foreign films, music, TV series and other products of cultural companies that had left the Russian market.

To date, the project is under consideration and it is not yet known when it will come into force.

According to Roman Isaev, compulsory licensing, like parallel imports, cannot be applied to cinema “due to its very long procedural history”.

“If now the State Duma will work on them, then this, unfortunately, is an unrealizable path, so it will be redundant work.

And unnecessary.

Therefore, only non-contractual use, ”Isaev believes.

At the same time, according to AVK member Alexei Voronkov, a number of film studios, including Sony and Disney, are looking for channels for parallel imports to Russia.

The expert claims that despite the fact that a number of studios cannot announce their work with the Russian Federation, they are still trying to find a way out of the situation.

The Russian film business faced serious problems in March 2022, when major Hollywood studios such as The Walt Disney Company, Warner Bros.

And Sony., whose films brought about 80% of the revenue to Russian cinemas.

Also in July, it became known about the departure from Russia of the IMAX corporation, which provides the cinematic system of the same name.

With the departure of blockbusters from the country, the number of viewers in cinema halls significantly decreased, and the repertoire underwent changes - more Russian and Soviet films began to be shown in the cinema, distributors began to bring Indian and European films to the country more often, as well as tapes of oriental production.

At the same time, Karen Mirzoyan, CEO of Indian Films, said in an interview with RT that dubbed Indian films can compete well with Hollywood and compensate for about 40-50% of losses.