On November 24-25, Dubai International Content Market (DICM) will be held. This is a major international event in the field of entertainment content and media industry for the MENA region, which includes countries in the Middle East and North Africa. This year, Russian content producers and distributors will for the first time participate in DCIM as part of the united booth Russian Content Worldwide, organized by ROSKINO with support from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation, the Cinema Fund and The Moscow City Tourism Committee. Ten major players in the Russian film industry will present over 40 projects, including movies, series and animation.
“The Russian film industry will present at Dubai International Content Market over 40 various projects. This wide representation testifies to a substantial interest in the Middle East market and our companies’ desire to find new partners. I am confident that the event will become a very efficient platform for the promotion of Russian talent – actors, directors, screenwriters – and will also help to strengthen cultural and business ties between the countries.” Olga Lyubimova, Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation commented.
“We are proud to present Russian content at Dubai International Content Market. For the first time, market leaders are bringing their most recent projects to one of the fastest-growing markets under the single umbrella brand Russian Content Worldwide. This is a new phase in the perception of the Russian film industry by audiences in the MENA region and in cooperation with the UAE as an important hub for the Middle East & North Africa. Due to its distinct culture and history, the Middle East is significantly different from other markets, which only makes promoting Russian content there a more interesting task. Russian projects presented at DICM were selected to fit preferences of the MENA region. We hope that top-notch animation, sci-fi, war and sports dramas, comedies and family films, horrors and thrillers from Russian directors will be interesting to an audience that is new to us. We had discussions with the industry on what format they consider to be most efficient under current circumstances, and a conscious decision was made to physically participate in the Dubai event and establish business contacts in the MENA region rather than attend the online American Film Market. And this decision is largely a historic step.” Evgenia Markova, CEO of ROSKINO commented. Markova explained that the united Russian Content Worldwide booth will feature key players in the Russian film industry: Central Partnership, All Media (a START Company), Art Pictures Distribution, CTB Film Company, Planeta Inform, KION, Riki Group, SMF Animation Studio (Soyuzmultfilm), Wizart Animation and Parovoz Animation Studio.




Markova said that Russia’s largest content producer Central Partnership (part of Gazprom Media), which has actively collaborated with Middle Eastern distributors over the past year, is serious about the MENA region. At DICM, it plans to establish contacts and conclude deals with TV channels and platforms, as well as independent distributors. The company places its bets on the projects – Champion of the World, First Oscar and The Pilot. A Battle for Survival, as well as on other projects available for the region. Central Partnership stresses that the MENA region is very important for the company and has potential for further successful cooperation. Markova then pointed out that Champion of the World made by Central Partnership in collaboration with Nikita Mikhalkov’s TRITE studio and Rossiya 1 TV network, is centered on a dramatic and legendary chess match for world championship between current champion Anatoly Karpov and contender Viktor Korchnoy who emigrated from the USSR a few years before the match. The war drama The Pilot. A Battle for Survival is centered on Il-2 pilot Nikolay Komlev whose plane crashed in the woods during World War II, and he had to find a way to survive. Markova also pointed out that Central Partnership also offers the horrors The Ice Demon, Dark Spell, Baba Yaga: Terror of the Dark Forest, Mermaid: Lake of the Dead and the films The Blackout, The Last Frontier and The Ninth.
Markova said that the key projects from All Media (a START Company) featured at DICM 2021 are the large-scale movie Litvyak centered on Soviet fighter pilot Lidia Litvyak; the melodrama Danube, the debut feature by screenwriter Lyubov Mulmenko, who co-wrote the scripts for two winners of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Unclenching the Fists and Compartment Number Six, as well as The Riot, the winner of this year’s Kinotavr film festival. Markova added that according to All Media, the MENA region isn’t easy in terms of content sales, and the company is interested in stepping up cooperation with buyers from the Middle East. All Media’s package also includes the dramas A Team of Heaven and Bullterier.




Markova then explained that Art Pictures Distribution will present a new, fifth season of the series Ivanovs vs Ivanovs, the comedy series Oligarch’s Wife, the sports comedy Lanky Girls, the romantic comedy The Russian South, as well as the four-episode melodrama Believe Your Husband. Art Pictures Distribution aims to expand the geography of its content sales, meet partners the negotiations with whom were conducted online last year and introduce its catalog to new companies. Markova went on to point out that Planeta Inform will present three projects scheduled to premiere in 2022: the sci-fi picture WE based on the well-known novel by Yevgeny Zamyatin, the historical picture on military valor Wings over Berlin and the family animation Wings 2, a sequel to a popular story on brave airplanes. Potential partners will be also introduced to the biopic AK-47 and the family sci-fi drama Robo. Planeta Inform is already collaborating with distributors from the Middle East region, and, taking advantage of the offline market, the company’s representatives plan to have in-person meetings with partner networks and platforms. The company says that the Middle East develops under its individual scenario and is substantially different from the rest of the world and traditional sales markets. Representatives of Planeta Inform also say that, based on their experience in the region, local audiences are more interested in large-scale action movies and theatrical animation.




Markova said that the youngest participant of the Russian booth, the multimedia online platform KION, will present unique films and series from its own content library, which have a substantial potential and are in line with suggestions from Middle Eastern colleagues. Among the projects is the documentary biopic on the creator of VKontakte and Telegram Durov, the documentary/feature on the H-bomb inventor and world-famous human rights activist Andrei Sakharov Sakharov. 2 Lives. Among the features, hopes run high for the detective thriller Reaper Bay, which is focused on a mysterious female investigator and became a hit on the platform immediately after the release. The series was awarded at this year’s INYFF festival in New York as the best TV/web series. KION will also present the project Night Mode. This is one of MTS Media’s first projects in the KinoStories format, which offers the user the option to choose whether to watch it as a feature film or as a web series for 10-15 min. Markova also mentioned that CTB Film Company will present its new comedy Clipmakers scheduled for release in 2022, as well as a range of animation projects. The company says that it is already actively collaborating with the MENA market, and this year, deals have been struck with Middle East buyers for the war drama Infiltration, fantasy Upon the Magic Road, animated comedies My Sweet Monster and The Barkers.




Markova said that Wizart Animation will present the fifth installment in the Snow Queen franchise, The Snow Queen and the Princess, featuring new adventures of the widely popular characters. The release is scheduled for early 2022. Based on the results of recent AFM 2021, the company signed contracts for the distribution of the animated film in France, Turkey, South Korea, Norway, Iceland, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. In Dubai, the company expects to hold negotiations with prospective partners and finalize deals for the region’s territory. Markova also pointed out that Wizart Animation says that participation in DICM will enable the company to expand its presence in the markets of Middle East and North Africa, as well as study the local market and its specifics in more detail. Middle Eastern viewers are already familiar with Wizart Animation’s projects, as all four parts of the Snow Queen franchise have been theatrically released in the region.




Markova explained that CTB Film Company’s animation offering includes How to Save the Immortal as well as the new project Marrakuda. In addition, CTB Film Company plans to hold meetings with Spacetoon to discuss a joint marketing campaign for the release of the new season of the Moonzy franchise in the 3D CGI format. Riki Group plans to continue with sales of its projects Kikoriki, BabyRiki, PinCode, Panda and Krosh, Тina & Tony, features Finnick and Teddy Boom!. In addition, the series The Fixies will be presented, whose little characters are the mascots of the Russian pavilion at the Expo 2021 in Dubai. Markova said that SMF Studio (Soyuzmultfilm) expects to find content distributors (МBC, Spacetoon, Beln and Turner are viewed as potential partners in the region), as well as distributors for the children’s channel Мultilandia.The company’s main projects are the animated series centered on the adventures of extraterrestrial hamster Ziggy and his friends, Coolics; a story of a magic cat, Meow Magic; the music comedy series Rockoons and The Adventures of Peter and Wolf. In addition, the company expects to find co-production partners for Loodleville. Finally, the projects The Secrets of Honey Hills, Claymotions, Monsikids, Squared Zebra and Orange Moo-cow will be presented.




Markova explained that Parovoz Animation Studio will present two animation series currently in development – Spaceport, which is set in the distant future and focused on a galaxy populated by various creatures, and Amazing Cafe, which tells the story of fabulous adventures of a little girl named Agata and her unusual friend, the culinary robot Tommy. Parovoz Studio hopes to find co-production partners for these projects. Today, animated series produced by Parovoz studio for the media holding Digital Television are available on TV networks and digital platforms in over 100 countries, including the Middle East. Projects like Be-Be-Bears, Paper Tales, Magic Lantern, Heroes of Envell, F.A.S.T., Leo and Tig were aired or continue to be aired on various platforms in this region. The company stresses that the Middle East market has a substantial creative and business potential, and, at DICM, the studio intends to find new ideas and projects on the crossroads of European and Middle Eastern cultures.