Whilst participating on the Russian Cinema stand at SIFF Market, an international film market in Shanghai held between 14 and 16 June, Sovtelexport announced the sale of TV broadcasting rights to a large Chinese distributor of five World War Two documentaries. All the films will be shown by China’s largest state broadcaster, CCTV, in summer.

Viewers in the country will soon be able to see "1944: The Battle for Crimea" (2014); "The Battle for Stalingrad" (2013); "History’s Greatest Tank Battle" (2013); "Marshal Zhukov" (2010), and "Stalin’s Falcons: Winged Penal Battalion" (2009).

Sovtelexport representatives acknowledged the significance of the 70th anniversary of the Allied victory in World War Two in generating high demand worldwide for television documentaries about the war.

Julia Matiash, Director of Sovtelexport:
We have enjoyed a successful working relationship with China’s leading broadcasters over the past ten years, including CCTV and Phoenix Satellite. Working in China requires a very specific approach due to the fact that purchases are generally made through authorized distributors, each of which is looking for a specific category of content for its clients. Initially, our sales in China were exclusively of feature films and television series in the action and war genres. In recent years we have managed to generate interest in Russian documentary filmmaking among broadcasters. The volume of sales and range of genres being taken up have been steadily increasing from year to year. What with the strengthening partnership between Russia and China, we hope China’s interest in Russian content will continue to grow.

Toni Fang, co-founder of distributor (China):
We selected documentaries on World War Two specifically at the request of our client, CCTV, who asked for several films that could be shown to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the war. Several films from Russia Television and Radio’s catalogue were brought to our attention by Sovtelexport. Everybody in China knows about the war, and people are very interested in the history surrounding it. Furthermore, this important anniversary has been officially promoted by the Chinese government.

Sovtelexport is a regular participant on the Russian Cinema stand, which promotes domestically produced content at the world’s leading film markets in Cannes, Berlin, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Toronto and Los Angeles. In Shanghai, Sovtelexport has showcased a vast catalogue of content from across every TV channel owned by Russia Television and Radio, as well as the best programmes from Russia’s largest production companies.
SIFF Market takes place alongside the Shanghai International Film Festival (13–21 June). The Russian film industry has been represented here for the first time in the form of the Russian Cinema stand, organized by the Cinema Fund with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation. The 15 participating Russian companies have brought more than 50 films to Shanghai for sale on the international market, including recent content from documentaries and animation to high-budget projects still currently in production.