Freelance Cinematographers Refute Official CSC Allegations :: Charter'97 :: News

Independent cinematographers refute the official report of the Committee for State Control’s press-center. As BelaPAN previously reported, on January 27 the CSC press-service circulated the statement, explaining the motives for arresting the property of the national public association “Belarusian union of cinematographers” in course of its financial examination, commenced on January 2.

The text of report reads that in the BSK educational studio they found technological equipment, capable of carrying out the full spectrum of works to produce and copy cinema and video films. They also allege that there are no documents available, confirming the proper purchase of the equipment in question. The CSC report also mentions the illicit production and dissemination of unlicensed video production.

Moreover, as written in the document, one of the BSK apartments is used as office for the video-studio “Tatiana” which never signed any rent agreement on that. Controllers also claim that they came across video-equipment and cassettes without proper documentation, confirming their origin and also mention the allegedly established facts of unlicensed production.

In an interview to BelaPAN cinema dramatist from “Tatiana” Irina Pismennaya pointed out that “the press-service’s report appeared before the inspectors familiarized themselves with the studio’s documentation”.

According to the well-known Belarusian filmmaker Yuri Khaschevatsky, CSC information is leading the society astray. “It is blatant lies and state bodies are disseminating it. The document’s content is of an accusatory character,” – noted the filmmaker. He calls “false” information of CSC about the alleged absence of documents, verifying the proper purchase of the studio equipment. “Most of our appliances have been received from the Belarusian PEN-center under a concomitant agreement with BSK. Some of it was passed over for responsible storage by the Russian “Dmitry Kharitonov’s Film Factory” (Moscow), the fact, which had been also documented,” – said Yuri Khaschevatsky.

He also said that the BSK studio’s facilities were used by the students of the Belarusian Academy of arts and famous filmmaker Mikhail Ptashuk.

The man also refuted CSC allegations that BSK has been producing unlicensed videos and then sold them. “I just want our examiners to tell the public in open the exact name of the film which we produced and spread without a concomitant license,” – said Khaschevatsky.

Yuri Khaschevatsky assumes that “raid on the “Tatiana” studio and BSK, carried out by the controlling bodies, annihilated the crucial national work on the creation of the professional cinema production of the international level and renown”.

In this connection the cinematographers addressed the Confederation of arts unions of Belarus, Confederation of cinematographic unions, international human rights and female organizations, mass media and simply the people of art and culture.