Ukrainian cinema lost in translation
Published 28 February, 2008, 05:41
Hollywood stars have been banned from speaking Russian in Ukraine's cinemas. Under a new ruling, films can only be shown in their original language or be dubbed in Ukrainian. In protest some cinemas have gone on strike while movie-goers are missing out on the latest blockbusters.
The issue divided distributors and the government.
No distributors could get a licence for the sci-fi thriller which was dubbed in Russian with Ukrainian subtitles. They say pirates will now capitalise on those films that can't make it to the big screen. Their prediction is 70 per cent decrease in viewers in two or three months.
The head of cinematography, Hanna Chmil, says Hollywood film can be released either in English with Ukrainian subtitles or be dubbed in Ukrainian. Besides, officials argue that a new generation of movie goers will hardly notice the difference as most schools teach in Ukrainian these days.
“Two thirds of movie goers are young. They all know Ukrainian. You see, the problem is more financial than political. Distributors don't want to pay for dubbing that's why they went on strike. We had a similar issue a couple of years ago when all films on TV had to be translated. No one's complaining now,” said Mrs Chmil.
Meanwhile, people are adapting to the ruling in their own way. It just takes half an hour to download a pirate copy of a new film from the Internet. So many prefer this way, especially those from the east of the country where people speak Russian as their first language.
While distributors complain of slumping profits the entire industry seems to be lost in translation – running trailers in English, captions in Russian and billboards in Ukrainian.
discuss it
