It's A Small, Small World

This evening I had the unique opportunity to meet and 'talk shop' with a small group of filmmakers from the former Soviet Republic of Kazakhstan. The group was in the U.S. as part of a fact-finding tour of Washington, DC and New York. The Kennedy Center and U.S. State Department arranged for the group to take in as much of the American documentary production scene as possible during their brief stay.

During the hour-long meeting the Kazakhs told of the freedoms they now have since the fall of the Soviet Union and the hardships they face in raising funds and finding distribution for their work. They explained that only 30 percent of films in Kazakhstan are home grown, while 70 percent are from Hollywood and thought Hollywood was more ‘artistic’ than the Kazakh film market. We all chuckled at that one! Their films have been honored at international film festivals, but they are still in search of a business model that will allow the Kazakh film community to grow.

They eagerly listened as we told them the situation in the United States is pretty much the same: the difficulties in obtaining funding, getting a distributor, and earning enough money to stay in business for the next film. We pointed out their good fortune of having the U.S. as a foreign market should they get funding in their home market. In practical terms, this is actually a better situation than many U.S. filmmakers have.

Kazakhstan, a country of 15 million (roughly the population of metro NY), is a major oil producer in central Asia, and has money. They pointed out how it was easier for them to get money from their oil wealth if U.S. or European producers were involved. Filmmaking in Kazakhstan is considered an art, not a business, so it is not a full-time profession. They all have day jobs to pay the bills while they cobble together films as best they can.

Unfortunately, I can totally relate to this business model.

The translators were a huge help, but it seemed like we knew what they were saying just by their expressions and tone of voice. In any language, we all agreed that our passion is well worth the hard work and effort and that working together in the future would be well worth our time... and bottom line!