Ukrainian movie-distributors brought an action against
the government of Ukraine, demanding to cancel the resolution, which obliges
them to dub every fifth copy of a foreign movie in Ukrainian beginning from September
1, 2006.
According to President of Ukrainian association of cinematograph
development assistance Mikhailo Sokolov, movie-distributors, who were obliged
to dub films at their own expense, asked the government to take over the
financing. After the government had ignored the request, the association
decided to appeal to court.
“We have objections to that the state policy is carried
out at our expense,” explained Sokolov.
According to him, movie-distributors will argue in the
court that imposing the Ukrainian language on film-goers the government
violates Constitution of Ukraine.
Total movie takings made 35 mln USD last year. Cinemas’
owners fear that this figure may decrease after the introduction of obligatory
Ukrainian dub, as about 60% of total takings from every movie come from Russian
speaking cities – Dnipropetrovs’k, Kharkiv, Odesa, Zaporizhzhya and Donetsk.
