After the Invasion of Ukraine, Canada Seeks to Attract Hollywood Film Productions

Canadian filming locations and studios are expected to lure Hollywood film and series projects looking to avoid conflict in Eastern Europe, where the Russian invasion has disrupted film productions in Ukraine.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, Hollywood headed north towards Canada to resume production after lockdown in early 2020 in the time of the epidemic. Now, after the Russian invasion Canada is expressing its willingness to welcome the film industry.

Although Ukraine has provided attractive discounts and cheap production costs, the current situation will force international operators and North American producers to quickly shift the directions of the cinematic production. They are expected to change their plans and ultimately stay in the Atlantic Northeast region.

The Russian invasion comes at a time when Ukraine and neighboring Eastern European countries have just reopened sites and studios after the global recovery from the Coronavirus pandemic.

Foreign and domestic film and television productions, crews and visual effects across Canada are operating at full speed, exceeding pre-lockdown levels.

 

Film Relocation Surge

The conflict in Ukraine, halted the ability of foreign producers to take advantage of generous tax incentives in the country. Thus, it is expected for the film production to move to other countries, such as Canada.

“Similar to the migration of production we saw coming into Canada over the last two years during COVID, I expect there will be a very clear movement in relocating productions again to similar safe havens. Canada will see a spike in production given the threat currently in Eastern Europe,” said Michael Cerenzie, chairman and CEO of Stratagem Studios.

He added: "Canada competes directly with Eastern Europe as a market for film production, along with other markets such as Australia, Spain and South Africa that have competitive prices, and these markets are also likely to see an influx of production during these turbulent times," he added.

For Ukraine's fledgling film and television industry, the invasion comes at a time when it is just beginning to open up to the global audiovisual world.

“The film and television industry in Ukraine was just starting to open up, just starting to work with international productions, building a system, and now everything stops working,” said producer Nebojsa Taraba, a partner at a production company based in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia.

Taraba was a lead producer on the crime series Silence, a Croatian-Russian-Ukrainian-German co-production filmed in Ukraine and sold to HBO Europe.

Regarding the film and television industry in the region, Taraba said that the conflict will destroy everything, not only for Ukraine but even for Russia. The latter was a really booming market before the invasion, broadcasting services opened opportunities for television, and all operators were preparing to ramp up production there. Now, Russia has isolated itself.

Dariusz Jablonski, a Polish producer who has worked on several productions in Ukraine, said it was up to the international community, and Russia's filmmakers, to stand up against "this crazy man" Putin.

 

Rising Film Production

Before the war’s outbreak, Ukraine had adopted an attractive strategy to lure the international film industry. The change in its media legislation was detrimental to the rise of the local audiovisual industry and increased international film production opportunities.

With generous tax rebates and reduced filming costs, spectacular scenery and state-of-the-art production facilities, Ukraine could lure the Cinematic international business.

Victoria Yarmoshchuk, executive director of the Ukraine Motion Picture Association (UMPA) pointed out that: “We have strong potential to become the most attractive partner and one-stop destination for international productions.”

Ukraine made huge progress by improving its production climate and was able to provide unique competitive advantages.

One of the most important incentives was the country’s cash-rebate scheme allowing foreign film and TV producers to recoup up to 30% of production costs spent in Ukraine.

Moreover, international producers could receive an extra 10% payback from labor costs in Kyiv and 4.5% payback in the rest of Ukraine. Additional facilities were introduced in 2020, such as VAT costs removal for foreign partners who meet certain criteria.

Maryna Kuderchuk, head of the Ukrainian Film Agency, stated that the facilities were essential to driving international collaboration. She explained that: “In 2020, the Ukrainian Film Agency started financially supporting production of multi-episode TV series. This support is also available for foreign producers if they have a Ukrainian co production partner.”

Ukraine signed co-production agreements for the audiovisual business with France, Israel, and Canada and became a member of Eurimages. Since 2020, has been allowing producers to claim partial compensation of expenses for video games, documentaries and animated films.

 

Boycotting Russia

The sanctions on Russia after its invasion of Ukraine were of different categories. Including the entertainment industry.

After the Russian invasion, Disney and Sony Pictures, two of Hollywood’s biggest film production houses, have halted film releases in Russia.

Disney issued a statement declaring: “Given the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the tragic humanitarian crisis, we are pausing the release of theatrical films in Russia, including the upcoming Turning Red from Pixar.”

From another side, Sony Pictures announced that it would stop planned theatrical releases in Russia, including the upcoming title Morbius. Explaining the reason behind the pause as Russia’s aggression against the Ukrainian civilians.

The Ukrainian Film Academy requested a global boycott of Russian cinema and the Russian film industry after Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine.

The Academy criticized the Russian continuous benefit from the cultural and entertainment deals. It stressed that while the sanctions to punish Russia were applied in different fields, the licenses for Russian movies and series were not paused. Calling for a firm and urgent ban of any business dealings with Russian companies.

Then, in an unprecedented step of protest and condemnation against the Russian aggression in Ukraine, the European Film Academy (EFA) joined the global boycott of Russian films.

On March 1, the EFA stated in a statement it has “joined the massive global sanctions currently in effect against Russia and fully supports the call of the Ukrainian Film Academy to boycott Russian film.”