Year of Culture in Belarus: No Listapad film festival?

Belaruskali has refused to finance Minsk international film festival Listapad, tut.by reports. The potash fertilizer monopoly used to be the main sponsor of the festival.

The other sources of financing including the budget are minimal. The organizers can only pay for 40% of the expenses now. The main founders of Listapad – the Ministry of Culture and Minsk City Executive committee– have allocated the money, deputy director of the festival Raisa Rozum said. The money is only enough to pay for the contest and the jury’s arrival.

The lack of financing will not let invite guests, organize hors concours programmes and the industrial platform. It will bring Listapad back to the old format (survey of regional films) which does not correspond to the status of an international film festival.

The organizers have already been refused in 65 places when asking for financial assistance, Raisa Rozum noted.

The festival budget totals 7-8 billion roubles, the organizers said. The budget of this year’s Slavonic Bazaar almost reached 57 billion roubles.