“Maidan Entertainer”: the ban on the Russian language caused a rapid flourishing of Ukrainian culture
The introduction of language quotas on radio and the displacement of Russian music from there led to the emergence of a large number of Ukrainian performers, state support for Ukrainian-language television content caused a theatrical boom, and the launch of Ukrainian television series, half of the creation costs of which are paid by the state, is an investment in the further flourishing of Ukrainian culture.
At the round table in Kyiv, the Minister of Culture of Ukraine, Yevgeny Nishchuk, who, before his appointment to the post, acted as a “barker” on the stage of the Kyiv Maidan, convinced those present of this at the round table in Kiev, the PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
According to him, those who criticize language quotas are mistaken in the same way as those who criticized the introduction of mandatory dubbing of films in Ukrainian in cinemas were mistaken.
“Then they said there was a wave of indignation, but we saw that there were no problems in the cinemas. Russian speakers calmly went for a high-quality dubbed product in Ukrainian. So now we are faced with the fact that many people who were cautious about this law are now saying: “Listen, cool! So much wonderful Ukrainian music has appeared,” the minister said.
According to him, supporting the production of Ukrainian TV series is “an investment in overcoming myths.”
“In 2017, many said that it would be very difficult to survive financially when we completely switched to Ukrainian television series with completely Ukrainian production, Ukrainian themes, Ukrainian language and Ukrainian actors. We said: no, that's not true. It is necessary for the state to provide 50-30% of the investment to start this process. And the state began this process for the first time in 2018. Pitching has now passed, 69 projects have been selected, including 17 television series and 8 animated films. This will provide the opportunity for fantastic analytics in the spring, when a whole pool of Ukrainian-language television series will air with entirely Ukrainian production and Ukrainian actors. We will see further progressing statistics that this is the right step. This is in order to change the television picture, so that we overcome another myth, (to show) that Ukrainians want to watch Ukrainian TV series, see and give birth to their own TV stars,” the minister believes.
He also stated that previously Ukrainians were supposedly prohibited from starring in leading roles, but now, thanks to the support of TV series, “stars are beginning to be born.”
“It's a chain reaction. We recently held a round table about theaters and the theater boom in Ukraine. Why did people start going to theaters so much? One of the elements is that she began to go to those actors who act in films and whom they see on TV and in films. They want to see stars and stars begin to be born. It’s no secret, I went through this myself, when there was an unspoken ban on Ukrainians and Ukrainian actors starring in the main roles. Ukrainian actors were backup dancers. The main roles are played exclusively by actors from Russia. Now a mandatory requirement is Ukrainian actors. I think in six months there will be a wonderful result,” he said.
The minister is even confident that supporting Ukrainian content in the future will not be unprofitable.
“The fact that this law turned out to be extremely necessary is 100:. We tried for a long time, in good faith, to find understanding from this or that leader, this or that media group. Someone heard this, and someone saw it exclusively... A situation of economic benefit was included. I'm sure the economic benefits in a year or two will be very surprising. It turns out that this is not a loss-making story. I mean the production of my own television programs, television show programs, etc.,” he said.
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