Gazprom-Media
Holding has announced the establishment of the KIT Film Studio for the
production of television series, feature length films and documentaries. The
KIT Film Studio is incorporated into the structure of the group of companies of
Gazprom-Media Holding KIT (Film and Television).
At the moment, the KIT Film Studio is producing 18 TV series for primetime broadcasts commissioned by the country’s leading TV channels, including Channel One, NTV and TNT. Among the key projects are Okhota na Dyavola (Hunt for the Devil) with the participation of actor Sergey Bezrukov, Mertv na 99% (99% Dead) with Aleksey Chadov, Myatezh (Mutiny) featuring Lyubov Aksenova, Sergey Shakurov and Pavel Tabakov. The film studio is managed by the famous director and producer Dzhanik Fayziev.
In the future, the studio plans to produce TV series content not only for the channels of Gazprom-Media Holding, but also for other broadcasters. Negotiations are underway to produce series for the television channels Rossiya, STS, Pyatii Kanal, TV-3 and others.
Moreover, the KIT Film Studio, together with Central Partnership, has produced two large-scale feature length films - an epic blockbuster Legenda o Kolovrate (The Legend of Kolovrat) and a film with the working title Nevsky Pyatachok (The Nevsky Corner) that simultaneously tells the story about our modern life and the events that took place during the siege of Leningrad.
“One of the goals of Gazprom-Media is to develop the Russian content market, both TV series as well as full-length films. We believe that the future of the Russian media market lies in the production of national content. As such, the creation of a film studio is part of Gazprom-Media’s strategy. Several television channels that are part of the holding already have their own production facilities, including our animation channel,” said Dmitry Chernyshenko, CEO of Gazprom-Media Holding.
In 2017, the holding plans to use the KIT Film Studio to launch the production of about 300 hours of primetime, high-budget TV series for the largest federal TV channels, as well as three full-length films. In total, more than 3,000 jobs will be created to work on the planned projects.
“In creating the KIT Film Studio, we tried to attract the best people in the industry. We have very ambitious plans. In less than a year we managed to launch the production of about 150 hours worth of premium series and two large-scale feature films. And this is just the beginning. Today we are already working with the largest television channels in the country. It is fundamentally important for us that the lifetime of our content does not end after the premiere showing. After all, everything that we produce becomes a part of our collection and continues to generate profit though distribution not only in Russia but also on international markets,” said Rafael Minasbekyan, general manager of the KIT group of companies. “Our mission is to create exciting and inspiring content. We like to tell stories, and we really hope that many people will enjoy watching them,” he added.