Published on: 2026-04-23
Source: Gazprom – An important disclaimer is at the bottom of this article.
An expanded working meeting of the delegation of “Gazprom-Media Holding” headed by General Director Alexander Zharov with leading Serbian film producers took place at the Ministry of Culture of Serbia. The parties agreed to move from a one-time distribution to a systematic co-production partnership. The Russian holding proposed to create a joint historical film, use the “Moskino” filming base (the “Russian Hollywood”), and a blogger network with more than 2 billion subscribers to promote projects.
“We will try to propose to our Serbian partners to work on creating a joint historical film—for example, about a character who contributed to saving the Russian crown. Such projects bring our peoples closer. Besides, we have a unique ‘Moskino’ database, which is called the ‘Russian Hollywood.’ Building sets there is more cost-effective than in China or India.”
Alexander Zharov, General Director of “Gazprom-Media Holding”:
In the course of the meeting, Alexander Zharov also emphasized the potential of Russian content for the Serbian audience. He said that, having previously communicated with the Serbian Minister of Culture Nikolay Selakovic, he learned that in the last 15 years only three Russian TV series — “Brigada,” “Kukhnya,” and “Ekaterina Velikaya” — have enjoyed high popularity among Serbian viewers. At the same time, “Gazprom-Media” annually produces from 8 to 10 of the best series in Russia, and he expressed confidence that the content library offering will receive a wide response from the local audience, considering how close the values of Serbs and Russians are.
Developing the topic of production capabilities, Boris Khanchalyan, Deputy General Director of Holding, emphasized that over several years a full-fledged ecosystem has been built within “Gazprom-Media”: “Today, GPM KIT projects work for any audience—from the smallest viewers to adults, and at the same time we adhere to a business approach: each project must be effective. Our pride is not only feature films but also animation. The Russian animation school is one of the strongest in the world, and our cartoons are watched outside Russia. Therefore, there is a demand for such content.”We are open to partnerships to work together on projects that are interesting all over the world.
Vadim Vereshchagin, the general director of the film company “Central Partnership,” spoke about the near-complete result of the distribution: “We have implemented over 300 projects in 170 territories. In Serbia, 30 films were released, 9 of which were released in theatrical distribution, but so far we have not been able to fully reveal the potential of Russian cinema here. Support in finding interested Serbian companies is important to us.” At the same time, he thanked the general director of the film company “Work in Progress” Andzhelka Vlaisavlyevich, who was present at the meeting, and her colleague for the coordinated work last year on the film “Battle of the Motors.”
Artem Mialkov, director and general producer of the company “1-2-3 Production,” shared his personal experience, warm words about Serbia, and his desire to expand cooperation: “The last time I was here was 15 years ago, when my father did the world premiere of ‘Sunshine.’ The incredible feedback from Serbian viewers was very important for our country and for Nikita Sergeevich personally. Recently, I learned that in Emir Kusturica’s ethno-village, Drvengrad, there is a Nikita Mialkov square and Andrey Konchalovsky street — this has further united our family with Serbia. We already have over 130 projects; that’s about 120 hours per year.”Last year, more than 3,200 people visited the screening of the film “Peter I: The Last Tsar and the First Emperor” at the Days of the Hermitage in Serbia. The more such projects there are, the stronger the relations between our countries will become. We will make every effort for this.
No less important aspect is the promotion of projects, highlighted by Alina Zinnatullina, General Director of the production center “Insight People”: “Often box office revenues of films depend not on the quality of the content, but on weak marketing. Modern marketing through bloggers can change this situation. We have 2800 bloggers under an exclusive contract, popular actors and musicians, in demand not only in Russia but also abroad. The total audience of our network is more than two billion subscribers. We are already successfully promoting the projects “Central Partnership” and “1-2-3 Production”, actively cooperating with global blogger agencies.”If Serbian bloggers join the promotion, the indicators will increase many times over.
In turn, Serbian filmmakers noted that the country has strong directors, costume designers, editors, and quality production houses. However, the local film distribution market is limited (about 7 million people), and a large number of online services distract the audience. Therefore, cooperation with Russian companies can significantly strengthen the positions of the Serbian industry. Attempts to enter the markets of China and Turkey, according to the Serbian side, have failed — unlike the growing interest in partnership with Russia.
The parties also discussed practical mechanisms: the tax cash rebate system in Serbia (a return of 25% of qualifying costs, and for projects with a budget over 5 million euros — 30%), as well as the system of automatic scenario analysis of the “KIT Film Studios” (an audit within “Gazprom-Media Holding”), which allows selecting projects that are interesting to both Russian and Serbian audiences.
As a result of the meeting, the parties agreed to form working groups on co-production in the coming months, discuss expanding the presence of Russian content in Serbian distribution and on digital platforms, as well as to involve the “Gazprom-Media” blogger network for joint promotion of projects.
Participants of the meeting: from the Russian side — General Director of “Gazprom-Media” Alexander Zharov, Deputy General Director of “Gazprom-Media Holding” Boris Khanchalyan, Communications Director of “Gazprom-Media Holding” Alexander Kormukin, General Director of the production center “Insight People” Alina Zinnatullina, Director of the International Relations Development Department of “Gazprom-Media Holding” Darya Bogdanova, General Director of the film company “Central Partnership” Vadim Vereshchagin, General Producer of the company “1-2-3 Production” Artem Mialkov.On the Serbian side — State Secretary of the Ministry of Culture of Serbia Lav Pajkic, head of the Serbian Film Center Jakov Petrovic, general director of “Work in Progress” Anđelka Vlaisavljević, co-founder of “Film Danas” Makset Chatovic, producer of “Tracktor production” Aljoša Ceranić.
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