Ukrainian dubbing policies--Kyiv Post Article 1

[Bridget Goodman]

Ukrainians prefer Soviet tradition of dubbing
by Elisabeth Sewall, Assistant Editor
Feb 28 2008, 02:16
 © KP Media, photo by Konstantin Klimenko
A movie-goer ponders whether to view a dubbed movie. Unlike their European counterparts, Ukrainians prefer dubbed films rather than those with subtitles.

The current debate in Ukraine about film­dubbing is particularly sensitive, because unlike most of their European counterparts, Ukrainians prefer to watch movies with dubbed­over voices, rather than in their original languages with subtitles. 
“By tradition and by far, dubbing is more popular in Ukraine,” said Bohdan Batrukh, the chief executive officer and owner of B&H Distribution Co., an official distributor of Disney, Sony, and other Hollywood majors in Ukraine. 
The dominance of dubbing in Ukraine is rooted in the Soviet era, experts said.
Regardless of where they lived, all Soviet citizens watched films dubbed into Russian since the 1930s, after sound emerged, says Oleksiy Fedynsky, a film critic and curator of the film club at the National University of Kyiv­Mohyla Academy.
Since much of the population at the time was illiterate, dubbing films was the only option, he added.
The tradition continued throughout Soviet rule, when only select members of society were allowed to study foreign languages and films from the West were rarely shown in cinemas. 
In comparison, Polish theaters began showing films with subtitles immediately after World War II, Batrukh said.
To this day, Poles “mostly do subtitling and they believe that the voices of the original actors are important to be heard,” Batrukh said, the exception being children’s films, which are dubbed into Polish. 
While Ukraine continues its dubbing tradition, the question is no longer a matter of national policy, but determined by profitability for film distributors and the tastes of Ukrainian movie­goers.
Yet a choice between dubbing and subtitles is rarely available, because theaters receive films through distributors that have already dubbed them, said Liudmyla Gordeladze, director of the city’s first cinema, Zhovten, built in 1930. 
During Soviet times, it was known as State Cinema 9. Today it is considered an art house cinema, showing lesser­known releases often not shown at Kyiv’s mainstream, commercial cinemas.
“If we do receive a film in its original language with subtitles, then it was because of a special film festival or event, and we have special showings, Gordeladze said. 
During Soviet times, subtitles were provided only for deaf people and those studying languages, she said. 
Given the option, Zhovten would prefer to show more original versions.
“We want to mainly request such subtitled films because we know that, in Podil, there is enough of a clientele that would be interested in this,” Gordeladze said. 
“But in principle, we have to be careful with this,” she added, because the majority of movie­goers are not always open to this option.
Only 30 percent of movie­goers would prefer subtitles, she estimated. 
Given the law requiring Ukrainian subtitles or dubbing, even people who consider Ukrainian their native language have a limited vocabulary, Gordeladze said.
“If you print subtitles the way they should be, then people start asking what some of the words mean,” she said.
Younger and more educated people prefer subtitling, she said, and as Ukraine’s urban population becomes more educated, then more cinemas can show movies in their original language, as in Poland.
For film distributors, dubbing has been the more profitable option, distributors said. 
While subtitling can be markedly cheaper than dubbing a film, this is only true in some cases, Batrukh said. 
On big releases, when his company must create around 100 prints of a film for distribution to cinemas, the dubbing process is cheaper than subtitling. 
Subtitles cost about $1,000 per print to make, whereas quality dubbing is a fixed cost between $35,000­40,000 per film. 
“If you are talking about big releases – over 50 prints – dubbing is much cheaper than subtitling,” Batrukh said. “If you are talking about 20 prints, subtitles are cheaper.”
In Batrukh’s view, the preference for dubbing over subtitles remains largely untested by film distributors in any real way. 
The Coen Brothers’ “No Country for Old Men,” a dark Hollywood crime thriller that recently won the Best Picture Oscar, will be B&H’s first big test, set for a March release with only Ukrainian subtitles. 
If people want subtitles, “obviously the market will deliver,” he added.
Quality is another concern, as both Russian and Ukrainian dubbings are poor, in the view of Fedynsky.
“People complain about how there are only a handful of Russian actors who perform dubbings,” he said. “The problem is even worse for Ukrainian dubbing, so subtitles would be a good thing.”
However, Gordeladze said the audience for Ukrainian­dubbed films isn’t less in her theater than for Russian versions.
In time, Ukrainians will grow a preference for subtitles, Fedynsky said.
“As more Ukrainians study English and want to become closer to European countries, this tradition might change,” he said.

Source:  http://www.kyivpost.com/nation/28488/


      ____________________________________________________________________________________
Never miss a thing.  Make Yahoo your home page. 
http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs

_______________________________________________
Edling mailing list
Edling at lists.sis.utsa.edu
https://lists.sis.utsa.edu/mailman/listinfo/edling
List Manager: Francis M. Hult