Israel Signs Filmmaking Deal With Russia

variety.com:

Israel has signed a filmmaking cooperation deal with Russia. The deal, which is understood to have been in the works for fifteen years, was inked by Israel’s Russian ambassador Alexander Ben Zvi and Russian culture minister Olga Lyubimova. “Now colleagues from Russia and Israel can exchange experiences, create films together, and work with film archives,” Lyubimova said in a post on the social network Telegram. “We look forward to seeing Israeli filmmakers in the competition programs of our international film festivals and in public discussions.

We are also preparing to expand the distribution capabilities of Russian-Israeli films.” Israel has a significant Russian and Eastern European population and – in theory – a collaboration between the two countries would have made sense at any other time.

Lyubimova said Israel first initiated the collaboration back in 2009. But given that Russia is currently facing sanctions from most of Western Europe following its war on Ukraine, the move to ink a deal has come as a shock to the Israeli filmmaking community.

Last year U.S. media and entertainment companies including Netflix, Amazon and WarnerMedia suspended trade with Russia and the country’s government continues to be banned from a number of international events, including film festivals and the Eurovision Song Contest.