MEDUZA/EN/VHF

‘This is not just a piece of land’: w a renowned film director sunk over $100 million in government loans on a bizarre box office flop


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In the late 2000s, Andrey Konchalovsky released his most ambitious project yet: a large-scale movie version of The Nutcracker, with Hollywood actors and cutting edge graphics. He got funding for the film from Vnesheconombank (VEB), Russia's state development corporation -- but the film was a box office bust, leaving him unable to pay back the money. A new investigation by Transparency International Russia found that Konchalovsky owes VEB almost $130 million -- roughly equivalent to Russia's entire state film production budget for 2021. Below, Meduza is publishing a translation of Transparency International Russia analyst Lizaveta Tsybulina's report, which tells how the Nutcracker money ended up in Konchalovsky's offshore account -- and how VEB is trying to get it back.
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MEDUZA/EN/VHFBy Nikolai Priser