Russia and the former Soviet Republics

World Games, Animation and Cinema within Russia and the former Soviet Republic

Regional Background

Communist hardliners staged a failed coup in 1991
This led to the break up of the USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics)
Privatisation of state industries commenced leading to soaring prices and a soaring wealth divide with the ‘oligarchs’ (very rich and very politically powerful) making tremendous fortunes overnight
Animation and film companies struggled to find their footing in the chaos
By the start of the new millennium, a thirst for stability led the populace to accept strong-handed order
Within a few years of Vladimir Putin’s first election in 2000, most of the independent TV channels were put under government control
Culturally, nostalgic trends coexisted with Westernized pop-culture
Not-quite-sufficient distribution systems filled movie screens with Hollywood blockbusters leaving locally created cinema behind
In 2004, the share of domestically produced films (all genres) in national box office was 13% and increased to 30% in 2005 and sunk to 14-15% by 2012
Not very much animation produced in 1990s due to low work-force and lack of interest in investing in projects that would take years to develop/turn profit
In 2000s, Smeshariki, Masha I Medved and Fiksiki increased interest in animation

Soyuzmultfilm

Soyuzmultfilm is a Soviet and Russian State Animated Film Studio founded on 10 June, 1936
Inspired by the Walt Disney animation studio
To date, 1500 animated films have been made, everything from 2D to stop-motion animation
They created their own version of 'Winnie the Pooh' (1969) 2D

Russian Animation

Noted Media Makers: animation

Oleg Kuzovkov and Animaccord Animation Studio: Masha and the Bear (Masha i Medved) 2009-present

In the youtube top 10 list of videos, Masha and the Bear: Recipe for Disaster comes in at #5 with more than 4.31 billion views

(in 2018 it was #6 with 2.9 views)
Masha has been TV broadcasted in more than 100 countries, and across multiple internet platforms INCLUDING www.heihei.nz

Aleksandr Petrov

Noted Media Makers: Film

Russian films

Hipsters (2008), directed by Valery Todorovsky (compared to Baz Luhrman for over-the-top style and anachronistic soundtrack)
This is a Russian rebellion to the Soviet government by taking inspiration from the 1900's fashion and singing!

House of Fools (2002) (set in an insane asylum during the Chechen conflict, compared to the One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)

Russian TV

96% of households in Russia have a TV set

The average person spend 5 hours and 33 minutes a day watching TV

Engagement with TV is generational with younger viewers preferring online services and social media for entertainment

Russian Video Games

World of Tanks, Solitaire and Private Treasure top list of Russians favourite video games (2019)

With the rise in popularity of military games, there has come a rise in complaints from Russia about their negative portrayal in those games
Calls have been made multiple times for funding games to instill patriotism in young players

Ukraine

Premiered in 2015 with Volodymyr Zelensky starring as a regular-guy-turned-president. Zelensky is also famous for being part of the Trump impeachment (2019) and SotP was censored by Russian TV for a Putin joke
Hardcore Henry (this is done in first view point of view. The stunts are INSANE)