FINANCING, PROMOTING, SELLING & DISTRIBUTING RUSSIAN SHORT FILMS
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Общая информация о VOSTOK:
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Producer, Met Film School London graduate, founder of full-cycle production companies MIMESIS and LIMITLESS, as well as the Independent Russian short film agency VOSTOK. Since 2015 she has been an active producer of auteur- driven cinema. She pays special attention to international co-productions.
MIMESIS productions were filmed in Russia, Italy, Brazil, Greece, Great Britain and in co-production with France, Germany and the Netherlands. These projects were supported by the Russian Ministry of Culture, Kinoprime Foundation, CNC, France 2, CICLIC, French regions Île-de-France and Grand Est as well as IDFA Bertha Fund and NL Filmfonds, participated in laboratories and pitches such as IDFA Forum, Artdocfest / Riga, EAVE On Demand, Les Arcs Co-production Village, East-West Talent Lab, European Short Pitch, Euro Connection and FEST New Directors Pitching Forum, as well as in the official programs of more than 100 international film festivals, including Berlinale with “Milk” by Daria Vlasova (2017), that became the highest-grossing fiction short film in modern Russian cinematic history, selling out to Pioner, Channel One Russia Worldwide and Canal+, amongst others.
YANNA BURYAK
Co-founder & CEO
PRODUCER’S SELECTIVE
FILMOGRAPHY
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Ruslan, Taisia Deeva, 2014 https://vimeo.com/166978962
Fedor’s Journey Through Moscow At The Turn Of The XXI Century, Axinya Gog, 2015 https://vimeo.com/299881539
Milk,Daria Vlasova, 2017 https://vimeo.com/199380174
No Nation Without Culture, Vladlena Sandu, 2022 https://vimeo.com/ mimesisproductions/ nonationwithoutculture
The White Ship, Inga Shepeleva, 2024 https://vimeo.com/
492476520
Memory, Vladlena Sandu (post- production), 2025 https://vimeo.com/531752919/ bfb53de9dd?share=copy
Father’s Letters, Alexey Evstigneev, 2024 https://mimesis.productions/ projects/fathers-letters/
Night Country, Andrey Natotcinskii, 2024
https://vimeo.com/ 1011045833/62b2ca2388?
share=copy
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Общая информация о VOSTOK:
GENERAL INFORMATION
ABOUT VOSTOK
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Общая информация о VOSTOK:
As part of the initiative, the has agency presented the "Short Film Stars" & “Artificial Intelligence” programs, as well as and organized master classes with European experts from the international short film industry.
GENERAL INFORMATION
ABOUT VOSTOK
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Общая информация о VOSTOK:
GENERAL INFORMATION
ABOUT VOSTOK
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First Russian
screening in Clermont-Ferrand
2019
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The screening was presented
by the founder of Clermont-Ferrand
Georges Bollon
First Russian Stand at Clermont-Ferrand 2019
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A photo with the president of CNC - Frederic Bredan
and creative Director
of CNC - Julienne Neutre
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Russian dinner for the Representatives of the international short film industry
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Photo with
Kateryna Kolas, Head of the Short Film Department at ARTE ZDF
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Press conference at Russian pavillion in Cannes 2019
Issues:
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1. The lack of a specialized institutions for financing short films except short animated and documentary films at the Russian Ministry of Culture. Thus a lack of professional support for short films in Russia.
2. The lack of a lobby, a professional short film community and an institution capable of setting a vector for progress and serving as a platform for cooperation with the international market via short filmmaking.
3. The prevalence of quantity over quality of short films.
SHORT FILM FINANCING
Solutions:
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1. Creation of an association and a short film foundation. Motivating regional foundations to support and develop the Russian short film industry.
2. "Focus on Russia" at festivals, markets and cinema chains through organizing screenings of the best films of the past two-three years, retrospectives and almanacs. As well as creating sections with Russian short films in media libraries and organizing stands representing Russian projects and short film market players. Gathering analytical data on the domestic and foreign short film markets. Lobbying the interests of Russian talent and cinema in general.
3. Grant funding for the production of short films motivates professional producers to create short films, which creates growth and progress which increase the export of feature-length national films in the long term.
SHORT FILM FINANCING
Issues:
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1. Inadequate measures to support producers and writer-director’s in the Russian short film industry. Due to a lack of funding, there are hardly any professional short film experts.
2. Disintegration with the global film industry: low presence of Russian short films in the programs of key international film festivals, laboratories, and pitching events.
3. Lack of industrial culture: no knowledge of global platforms; no understanding of how to work within them and no confidence in what steps to take for one's career to develop in an international context. No understanding of the importance of creating a short film in an international context and lack of awareness of how the fields of promotion, sales and distribution work.
SHORT FILM PROMOTION
Solutions:
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1. Organization of regular pitching competitions and creating transparent and accessible funding to newcomers and lower tier filmmakers. Launching an independent public platform for launching short film projects at the development stage and implementing a further program of the projects supervision from studios and the professional film experts in Russia.
1. Systematic inclusion of Russian projects in international short film laboratories and pitching sessions through the activities of the Russian short film foundation and Russian short film association: Euro Connexion, European Short Pitch, Torino Film Lab, Pitchs Mifa, Cyclic, CEE Animation etc.
1. Creating a business communication platform with the participation of the lead representatives and decision makers of the international short film industry to exchange experiences and promote co-production.
SHORT FILM PROMOTION
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The short film Naked by Kirill Khachaturov was sold to ARTE Court Circuit for 9500 Euro which made it possible for us to pay for a VOSTOK stand in Marche du Film and be taken seriously by the Russian government. Kirill Khachaturov received a grant for the success of his short film from the Federation of Creative Industries at the beginning of this year.
SALES CASE STUDY
Issues:
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1. In the absence of a full-fledged short film industry, there is no specialization in short film curation or distribution. Most films, even the most successful ones, are put online for free without any curatorial support or promotion.
2. A lot of branded content is produced as short films. Trying to commercialize short films by producing them by brands means they belong to the brands and are not part of the festival circuit or the international market.
3. Russian TV channels and most online VOD platforms do not buy Russian short films because there is a false notion that the viewer is not interested in short film content.
SHORT FILM DISTRIBUTION
Solutions:
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1. Exporting Russian short films and import foreign short films - acting as a representative, curator and aggregator of the best short films on the Russian territory. .
2. Engaging in educational initiatives and activities with students and communities, so that creators and producers know the value of short film as an autonomous form, understand their rights and confidently assess their prospects and goals.
3. Motivate TV channels and online platforms to show the best short films and invest their budgets into buying Russian short films, thus offering the viewer variety, popularizing independent Russian cinema and being actively involved in the growth and prosperity of our filmmakers and market.
SHORT FILM DISTRIBUTION
Eastwood Agency
& Vostok partnership
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We are merging our short film catalogs to offer rights holders an optimized strategy for the festival promotion, sales and distribution of their short films.
Eastwood Agency
shared goals for the next 3 years
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"Focus on Russia at film festivals and �film markets.
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Systematic inclusion of Russian projects in international laboratories and short film �pitching competitions.
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Responsible formation of delegations for strategic practical work at market and �festival venues.
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Creation of a short film association and short film foundation.
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Annual analytical study of foreign and domestic short film markets. Production of an informational and analytical catalog.
Courant3D
& Vostok partnership
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Yanna Buryak became an Ambassador and the Russian short film agency VOSTOK partnered with the French film festival Courant3D, specializing in immersive and interactive cinema.
Courant3D is the oldest film festival in Europe dedicated to new formats. It collaborates with the Clermont-Ferrand Festival and the Berlin Interfilm, two of the most important short film festivals in the world. The film festival is managed by the association Prenez Du Relief.
The partnership is supported by the Institut Français and the French Embassy in Russia.
PRENEZ DU RELIEF и Vostok partnership
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Vostok Agency is co-distributing a program of new format films from the Prenez Du Relief Association catalog in Russia. Thanks to this partnership, VOSTOK is proud to present an almanac of films created with the help of artificial intelligence.
We intend to open a branch of the festival Courant3D in Russia and we invite you to cooperate on this endeavour!
European Short Pitch
& Vostok partnership
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European Short Pitch is the most prestigious short film laboratory and pitching competition in the world. Films developed within the framework of the laboratory regularly participate in the competitive programs of Class A film festivals. The annual program, held since 2007, is aimed at discovering and supporting young authors who make short films as well as at encouraging co-productions in Europe. European Short Pitch is an aid to short film development, pitching and networking - a forum for co-production.
In 2016, producer and founder of VOSTOK Yanna Buryak and writer-director Daria Vlasova became the first Russian participants of European Short Pitch after winning the Interfilm Berlin pitch in 2016. They presented their project "Milk", first shown at Berlinale and then at Kinotavr, where the film got a special mention from the jury and main prize from the Russian Guild Of Film Critics. The film was so widely distributed that it gained the status of the highest-grossing Russian fiction short film, as shown in analytical studies conducted by VOSTOK and Festagent in 2019.
European Short Pitch
& Vostok partnership
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Collaboration with European Short Pitch allowed one Russian project to take part in this year's program without paying a participation fee! This is the project DVA by Alexandra Karelina, produced by Sergey Yakhontov for STEREOTACTIC. Also, as a bonus, the creators and rights holders whose films are in the catalog of the VOSTOK agency were able to participate remotely in the ESP forum and follow the pitching live. On the 10th of February Yanna Buryak gave a presentation about how foreign companies can officially interact with Russia when it comes to short films.
Short Film Day
& Vostok partnership
As part of this event, VOSTOK was proud to present its 2018-2019 program of short film hits. The films in our program are participants and award winners of the Rotterdam and Oberhausen festivals, as well as of film festivals such as SHNIT and Kinotavr. Among them are films by famous Russian director Mikhail Mestetsky, debut works of sought after Russian actresses Yana Gladkikh, Alina Nasibulina and Irina Khodyush.
The audience also saw a sharply social documentary film by Alina Kotova and Vladlena Sandu, winner of the prestigious "Silver Eye" award of the Institute of Documentary Film. In 2021 VOSTOK presented an international almanac of short film created with the assistance of artificial intelligence “AI Short Films”, that we plan on distributing theatrically in Russia in partnership with Prenez Du Relief and Courant3D.
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International Short Film Day has been celebrated on December 21 since 2011 at the initiative of the French National Centre for Cinematography and Animation CNC. Public screenings of curated short film programs take place at various venues: cinemas, bars, theaters, TV channels, universities, libraries, schools, Internet portals, shopping centers, museums, etc.
In 2014, the initiative first took place in Russia as
an initiative of the Youth Center of the Russian Cinematographers Union. In 2019, 2020 and 2021 the project was supported by the Presidential Grants Foundation.
Short Film Day
& Vostok partnership
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On December 20, 2020, VOSTOK held an open-talk with renowned experts of the international short film industry :
Laurent Crouzeix
Executive director of the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival and Market.
Russian interview:
Russian interview:
AMOS GEVA
Head of the online short film
platform T-Port
Professor and director
of the Courant3D festival and film forum for immersive and interactive cinema.
Russian interview:
FRANÇOIS SERRE
T-Port
& Vostok partnership
T-Port is a unique platform for professionals of the short film industry. Film schools, national agencies, sales agencies, and short film labs around the world use the T-Port platform to host their catalogs and bring their best films to the attention of program directors at top international film festivals, curators of special programs, TV channels, and various VOD platforms.
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https://tportmarket.com/partners/vostok
T-Port
& Vostok partnership
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Lighthouse Selections is a curated program and section of short films on T-Port by some of the most talented and renowned filmmakers from around the world. The selection is regularly updated with guest curators from the international film industry. The initiative is co-funded by Creative Europe MEDIA. In this section VOSTOK presented the following films from its catalog:
GOLDEN BUTTONS
ALEXEY EVSTIGNEEV / VGIK /
DOCUMENTARY / RUSSIA / 2020 / 20'
NAKED
KIRILL KHACHATUROV / MOSCOW SCHOOL OF NEW CINEMA / ANIMATION / RUSSIA / 2020 / 15’
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Partners and associates internationally
Partners and associates domestically
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@vostokglobalsales
+33 6 03 66 12 64