Page 89 - Inside the Film Factory New Approaches to Russian and Soviet Cinema

70 THE ORIGINS OF SOVIET CINEMA: A STUDY IN INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENT
Lunacharsky’s first such initiative involved seeking foreign credits and
investments for the film industry. This tactic took its source from Lenin’s decision
to grant foreign concessions in several industries beginning in 1921. Foreign
capitalists received invitations to take over the operation of several moribund
facilities in such areas as mining, oil and forestry. The Russians conceded a
substantial amount of income from these facilities in return for the rehabilitation of
the industrial units themselves. But while the foreign concession policy worked in
these extraction industries, Russia received few foreign investments in
manufacturing, apparently because foreign capitalists most wanted access to
Russian raw materials and were leery of making investments in expensive
production projects, especially since the Bolsheviks had cancelled foreign debts
and confiscated foreign assets just a few years previously. 26
Russian appeals to foreign investors in film went out in 1922 and ran into the
problems related to those of non-extraction industries. The Russians petitioned
German and American film companies to invest in Goskino, counting on the
foreigners to supply the needed equipment, film stock and technical expertise to
get dormant studios working at full capacity. But the film industry, unlike forestry,
for example, had little to concede to foreigners as an investment incentive. Lenin
and Lunacharsky could only promise foreign movie-makers that they might use
Russian landscapes for location productions, a meagre incentive at best for film-
makers who worked on artificial sets in well-appointed studios in Hollywood or
Neubabelsberg; not surprisingly, studio moguls showed little interest in Russian
ventures. 27
Lunacharsky’s effort did succeed in attracting one significant foreign investment
for film: the investment came not from foreign capitalists but from an international
socialist organisation with close pre-existing ties to the Soviet Union. In 1921 The
Workers’ International Relief (WIR) had been established on the Comintern’s orders
to provide aid to victims of the Russian famine. From its offices in Berlin, the
organisation solicited relief funds from various leftist organisations in Europe and
America. WIR promptly turned to film as a means of advancing relief efforts,
sponsoring the production of documentaries about the famine which were
exhibited in the West to raise donations. WIR’s interest in cinema continued after
the famine subsided, and the organisation turned its attention to Soviet economic
recovery. In the course of supplying credits to several Soviet industries from 1922
to 1924, WIR supplied Goskino and other Russian film companies with celluloid
and equipment valued at roughly 400,000 roubles; this advance was to be
redeemed when WIR received foreign distribution rights for future Soviet feature
productions. 28
WIR’s most ambitious venture, however, involved the capitalisation of a major
Russian production company, Mezhrabpom. In 1924 WIR invested 53,000 roubles
to acquire half-interest in a small Moscow film studio which survived from the pre-
Revolutionary period. WIR increased its level of investment annually until it had
acquired 100 per cent of the company’s stock and had raised the firm’s total
capital to 1.2 million roubles. WIR managed Mezhrabpom effectively, consistently