English
РусскийPresentation of upcoming Film Shooting about the Fort Ross
April 3, 2011 - 14:34
On March 16th, 2011 at Russian Cultural Centre in Washington (Rossotrudnichestvo) a reception was held where two new films were presented: the upcoming shooting of a Russian American documentary film and a feature film on Fort Ross. The representative of Rossotrudnichestvo in the USA Yuri Zaytsev opened the presentation. He welcomed the guests and introduced the participants. The Russian movie star Dmitry Kharatyan, film director Yury Moroz, writer and TV journalist Dmitry Poletaev, director and CEO of NTV America Eugene Piskounov and president of the Russian American Consulting Corp. Andrei Shuranov were in attendance.
Zaytsev also said the evening is one element to acquaint Americans with the Russian-American history and such meetings serve to improve the mutual understanding between the peoples of different countries and nationalities.
Fort Ross located approximately in 120 kilometers north of San Francisco, began operations in 1812 and was considered the most southern Russian settlement in the North America. The historical park at Fort Ross exists on the place of the Russian fortress of the same name. It is believed that Russian colonists first constructed ship-building shipyard and a windmill in California. Fort Ross Park has received additional popularity last year because of a lack of financing threatened its closure. Only the intervention of US authorities and the Russian Federation saved this very important attraction.
"This is a very exciting moment for us... It appears that history is not what it seems at first... My vision is to tell this story so that people living now can sympathize with the people who lived then", - Moroz said.
During the course easy and even cheerful conversation it was found out that Kharatyan has a some Aleutian blood. It appears one of his ancestors in his mother line (Stepan Gomzyakov) was the manager of the colonial trading Russian-American company /RAC/ on island Unga in the eastern part of the Aleutian ridge along the coast of Alaska. He was married to an Aleut woman, and his grand-daughter Lyubov is the great-grandmother of the Russian actor. So way it is not surprising that from the very beginning when Poletaev brought Kharatyan his scenario Fort Ross to get an opinion Kharatyan supported his classmate from the Shchepkinsky Art School, Poletaev, who is now living in New York City.
Dmitry Kharatyan will not only be the leading actor in the future feature film but will also be the producer. In the documentary film he will be the host/story-teller whose personal family biography will be the outline of a historical narration. At the meeting at RCC he defined his motivation as a blood /ancestral call.
The Russian movie star Dmitry Kharatyan
Shooting of the Russian American documentary film should begin shortly in California. It will be a preparatory and prospecting stage for a future big project. The cost of the initial stage is estimated by partners to be in the range of seventy to a hundred thousand dollars. The general sponsor is the most recent addition to Mr.Shuranov's business group, Russian American Film Consulting. They will provide movie production related services to Russian's film crews shooting in the US, and for Americans interested in doing movie production in Russia.
According to Kharatyan the feature film on Fort Ross, will cost approximately $10 million. The Cinema Fund is ready to give them $2 million, according to the sponsorship negotiations which are nearing completion.
For shooting the feature film it is still necessary to search for the additional funding. The cinematographer group didn't hide that fact that this is very difficult. Guests present at RCC took these cares to heart. Piskounov said there are 9 million Russian speaking people in America. If every Russian speaking American gave one dollar the film would meet its budget.
The attendees of the presentation expressed their hope that creation of new films will be one way of rallying Russians and were thankful to the information center Russian Washington - RussianDC(dot)com for its work in connecting Russian-speaking people in America. The author of the bestselling novel Fort Ross, an Executive Producer and Script Writer of the future movie Dmitry Poletaev and his friend Dmitry Kharatyan signed the novel for Yelena Staroselskaya, president of RussianDC.
For shooting the feature film it is still necessary to search for the additional funding. The cinematographer group didn't hide that fact that this is very difficult. Guests present at RCC took these cares to heart. Piskounov said there are 9 million Russian speaking people in America. If every Russian speaking American gave one dollar the film would meet its budget.
The attendees of the presentation expressed their hope that creation of new films will be one way of rallying Russians and were thankful to the information center Russian Washington - RussianDC(dot)com for its work in connecting Russian-speaking people in America. The author of the bestselling novel Fort Ross, an Executive Producer and Script Writer of the future movie Dmitry Poletaev and his friend Dmitry Kharatyan signed the novel for Yelena Staroselskaya, president of RussianDC.
Dmitri Poletaev and Yelena Staroselskaya
Organizers hope that the future films about Fort Ross will become part of process of strengthening the improvement of Russian-American relations and will get big support from both sides. The initial shooting of the film are supposed to be finished by next winter, and the movie should be completed by the summer of 2012, in time for Fort Ross's 200th anniversary.
by ITAR-TASS and RIA Novosti News Agency.
Translated into English by Luda Clark
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