Another Eurovision Council

Are the fears justified that it will not be easy for Ukraine to hold a festival?

Vitaly Portnikov: Eurovision 2017 in Ukraine ... After the victory of Jamala , at the previous Eurovision festival, a lot has already been said about how the next festival will take place, whether Ukraine can take it at all, whether the country has the means and opportunities for a song event, which has long become a hallmark of European pop culture.

How will the Eurovision Song Contest of 2017 be different from the previous festival, which took place in the Ukrainian capital? Indeed, then there was no thought of any war, even a frozen conflict in Ukrainian territory, not to mention the fact that there were no such tense relations between Ukraine and neighboring Russia.

This is probably why the Russian media pay so much attention to preparations for Eurovision in Kyiv, I would even say more precisely - non -reference. Already a common place was that Ukraine festival will certainly fail to great joy of its Russian ill-wishers-propagandists. An additional reason for concern was the resignation of part of the team, which was preparing for the festival on public television. We will still talk about what a way out of this situation will be found on our air. And now let's turn to how the Ukrainian capital is preparing for Eurovision, which accepts the festival for the second time.

Already a common place was that Ukraine festival will certainly fail to great joy of its Russian ill -wishers

We invited Alexei Reznikov to the studio of the deputy head of the Kiev State City Administration. Mr. Reznikov is just responsible for holding the Eurovision Service festival-2017.

What can be said about preparation - is it coming? Are there any chances that everything will be fine?

Alexey Reznikov: Preparation is in full swing. I would even allow myself to say that we will be ready for Eurovision-2017. As the players say, "the match will take place in any weather." There is no doubt, moreover, the beginning has already been laid. Just a few days ago, a ceremony of presenting symbolic keys from Eurovision by the president of the city council of Stockholm our mayor Vitaly Klitschko took place. Immediately in this column hall there was a draw, participants, countries that would compete among themselves in the semifinals number one and in the semifinals number two were identified. The Eurovision Council made its start, and the audience of 230 million viewers has already seen this official event, so no insinuations, no doubts are not possible here.

Vitaly Portnikov: Could it happen that the Eurovision Song Control of 2017 will become a politicized festival that it will not be possible to keep him from this politicism against the background of everything that we see in Russian-Ukrainian relations and in the country?

Alexei Reznikov: Let's not forget that the copyright holder of this show is the national broadcaster, in this case, our television company, which today already has a new name - “Public Joint -Stock Company“ Public Television ””. I meet in Geneva with the main producers of the European Broadcasting Union , we are discussing this along with our Ukrainian performing producers, Victoria Romanova and Alexander Haribin went there. And our European colleagues very clearly emphasized that Eurovision is a depolitized project that unites the festival of music.

By the way, pay attention: the Slogan Eurovision in Ukraine: “Celebrate Diversity”, and this matters both for Ukraine and Europe.

The copyright holder of this show is the national broadcaster, in this case - our television company

Attempts of politicization, of course, take place. These are the paid strange publications in some “yellow” publications that “Ukraine can’t cope, let's tell the next one who take turns”, and the next Australians who are not members of the European Union in turn, they say, let's go to Moscow ... but there weren’t there. The fact is that there is money in Ukraine, and Kyiv helps from the city budget, the amount has already been determined. To date, the main necessary services have been purchased, the arena has been determined.

The Supervisory Board of the European Broadcasting Union came on Monday, made an exit meeting, they worked all day and left satisfied, said that they would commit the next inspection a month later. I reported to them about the preparation of the city, and this did not cause any even clarifying issue. We are waiting for spring to ensure improvement.

Where can there be politicization? It is possible to choose a certain winner in Russia, who theoretically can be a person non grata in Ukraine. I ask you to notice: neither the Ministry of Culture, nor the Cabinet of Ministers, nor the city, nor our broadcaster decide who has the right to enter the country, and who is not, only the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU). Such a right is given to any special service of any country. Let me remind you that one of the Russian singers, Joseph Kobzon is an undesirable person in the United States.

Vitaly Portnikov: Do you think he will win the Eurovision Council?

Alexey Reznikov: Americans probably consider him involved in some kind of mafia circles. And no one is steaming (sorry for the non -legal term) that this person cannot come there. And if suddenly someone who turns out to be an undesirable special wins in an honest competition, then our SBU will decide.

We promised the European broadcasting union to ensure at the highest level the security of all delegations

As for the security of the Russian delegation, we promised the European broadcasting union to ensure at the highest level the security of all delegations that would come. The airport safety mode (metal detectors and so on) will be on all locations that are related to Ukraine, and this is the main arena, a press center for 1,500 journalists, Eurocellum and Eurogorod.

Vitaly Portnikov: Tell me, how can you hold a festival without building anything new? As far as I understand, the budget, which is allocated for Eurovision, does not allow to build some new infrastructure facilities. How will this happen?

Alexey Reznikov: We have no need to build anything, we have a wonderful object on the left bank - the International Exhibition Center. It satisfies all Eurovision requirements: the height of the ceiling is at least 25 meters, the most valuable is the load on the roof of at least 100 tons, lighting. Eurovision is not a concert at the stadium or in the opera. This is a television show for an audience of 230 million. Wooden walls, special effects and so on ... All this is very easily integrated in the exhibition center. In this facility, probably, the most expensive floor in Ukraine, because there is wiring of electricity, networks, sewage. We provide everything, from locker rooms to negotiations, there are no problems with this, you don’t have to build anything, you just need to mount.

Vitaly Portnikov: What is the preparation plan, will some city infrastructure improve?

Alexey Reznikov: Undoubtedly. The plan was approved by the city organizing committee. There is a government and city organizing committee. In this regard, 150 points: transport infrastructure, medicine, landscaping, landscaping, even a river tram from a postal area, from a speech port, is provided to simplify the road to the left bank. And there will also be improvement of neighboring construction projects, road repair ... We are preparing to receive guests: of course, we must restore order in the apartment. We expect about 20 thousand foreign guests within two weeks.

International Exhibition Center satisfies all Eurovision requirements

By the way, tourism experts say that on average a foreign tourist spends a hundred euros per day, and this enters the city budget, although not directly. You can calculate the expected total income of the city from these tourists.

Vitaly Portnikov: Are you not afraid that many tourists who traditionally come to Eurovision are just afraid to go here? A person from such a country as Holland or Denmark, looks at the map, sees that they shoot here ... There is a conflict in the Donbass, and we do not know what will happen in May.

Alexey Reznikov: to the conflict zone 800 kilometers.

Vitaly Portnikov: We know this, but a person from the Netherlands does not know.

Alexey Reznikov: He wants to see.

Vitaly Portnikov: You yourself say that this is not an opera concert.

Alexey Reznikov: Today, not a single country has refused to participate (this was shown by the draw). This means that the official delegations have already made a decision, they will come. And behind them will go fans. Eurovision is a free, democratic musical holiday. And these fans are no less active than football. When the festival of football occurs, this is 70 thousand is disposable, but here is still 20 thousand for two weeks, the load is much less. We will accurately ensure the safety of our guests.

Vitaly Portnikov: When Eurovision just began as a project for conducting Jamala in Ukraine after the victory of Jamala, I saw many officials just frank fright. On the one hand, “it is very good that we won,” and on the other: “What horror, where will we get the funds?” Has the fright passed?

To date, no country has refused to participate

Alexei Reznikov: I often visit ministers, when meetings of the Government Organizing Committee are held chaired by either Prime Minister Vladimir Groysman, or Deputy Prime Minister Vyacheslav Kirilenko, or Minister of Culture Yevgeny Nizhchuk. There is no fear at all, but there is a “sharpener” for the result, clearly synchronized actions.

A lot of discussions pass, I even had to change the legislation a little in order to simplify and accelerate tender purchases. We interact well with our national public television. Yes, there are difficulties, but these are not problems - these are tasks that are solved along the way.

There are interesting design solutions - for example, a brand while maintaining Ukrainian authenticity. Soon the brand will be presented in general (I will secretly say that I have already seen it). These are branded metro wagons and even socks, glasses and pens. It looks very beautiful, it will be great! The scene project is very interesting - I think he will also be presented soon.

I began to get acquainted with the world of Eurovision from the inside. Experienced people say that the bar is increasing every year, some new requirements appear all the time. Therefore, Ukrainian Eurovision 2017 will be exactly more interesting than even Eurovision Stockholm-2016.

Vitaly Portnikov: This, of course, is wonderful, but this is always a matter of funds. We saw how much money was spent on the Baku or Moscow festival. Ukraine does not have that kind of money. Compare the budgets of this Eurovision and previous festivals.

Eurovision is a free, democratic musical holiday

Alexey Reznikov: I agree. But the lion's share of the money spent by our Azerbaijani colleagues was invested in the construction of a new site, the arena was completely re-built. In our case, there will be only the cost of renting this premises - here you are already significant savings. In addition, the task is not to put dust in the eyes, but to do everything efficiently, efficiently and creatively. This is a show for viewers, and they only see the arena. Imagine: in the hangar in which the planes are assembled ... There was such an idea about the Antonov plant - there you can definitely hang more than one hundred tons of equipment. But still, this is on the road, it is not very convenient to get there, so the MVC was chosen as the best location.

But the world will see what is inside, and he will not see anything else. Of course, there will be separate reports on what restaurants are here, what hotels, how tourists walked and had fun. The Eurocellum and Eurogorod, which, incidentally, are planning to do it on Khreshchatyk, right next to the building of the administration, the city hall, and the Kyiv city council (all this is in the same building). There, most guests will be able to listen to performers live on stage. So we are not afraid, we will do it cool.

Vitaly Portnikov: I remember very well: when the European football championship took place in Kiev and other cities of Ukraine, there was an opinion that everything is there, and then it turned out that in fact everything was not so simple with the hotel base.

We are not afraid, we will do it cool

Alexey Reznikov: Undoubtedly. But during this time several new hotels were commissioned. There is an Olympic stadium - this is 70 thousand at the same time. I don’t know what a constructive solution will be here - it will be decided by those who won the competition and who are designing. That is, at the same time the maximum can be on the semifinals - for example, 10 thousand people and another one and a half thousand journalists. Do not forget that fans and fans will come and leave, they will not be at the same time 20 thousand. Kyiv has a resource - 19.5 thousand beds in the city itself, and there is still a nearest suburb. We can settle 21 of our guests at the same time in hotels from three to five stars. So we have a very serious resource.

Vitaliy Portnikov: When they thought about Eurovision, Kiev was still one of the pest cities. They did not understand why Eurovision was needed to take place in Kyiv again, if it was already once. Nevertheless, nevertheless they stopped in Kyiv. Is this such a capital, or, in your opinion, other cities simply did not have such technical capabilities?

Alexey Reznikov: Unfortunately, there were no technical capabilities. Six cities were announced in the competition - Lviv, Kherson, Kharkov, Odessa, Dnieper and Kyiv. If any of these five cities won, except us, we would have accepted this victory with dignity and joy and even help. But we had such a chance, and we coped with this. The jury worked out every nuance, and European requirements included primarily the ability to ensure security issues, and already in the second - the location, the arena, its whereabouts ...

In Ukraine, there are not enough such areas where you can mount the scene without difficulties and provide the auditorium

Unfortunately, in Ukraine, such arenas are not enough where it is possible to mount the scene without difficulties and provide the auditorium. Odessa residents and Lviv proposed to cover the stadiums with special designs. The Dnieper proposed the restoration of their sports palace, which, in principle, is possible, but requires significant investments. Kharkov was ready for this, and I liked his position.

Of course, it would be great if the country had a lot of money, then I would have made Eurovision in Kherson, on the border with the Crimea, since Jamala was just from the Crimea. It would be possible to show our Crimean fellow citizens who remained there: there is a Mordor , but here is an island of freedom. It would be cool, but these are too large investments in the airport and so on.

Although other small cities and even villages held entire Winter Olympiads ... I think the future of our country will allow us to hold such holidays in small cities to show not only Lviv, Odessa and Kyiv, but also other cities.

Vitaly Portnikov: The previous Ukrainian Eurovision, as far as I remember, took place in the Sports Palace. What happened to this arena in ten years?

Alexey Reznikov: She is very obsolete, the level of Eurovision went far ahead. She no longer has the possibility of a technical load on the ceiling of one hundred tons. And one more interesting moment. At the end of April, the stage of the World Hockey Championship, which was received by Ukraine (division a). This is also a very bright event for hockey lovers. The hockey federation and fans tensed when it turned out that there could be competition. Indeed, according to the requirements of the Committee, we must begin to mount the scene on March 26. And then hockey would be at risk. So this was also a compromise: we do not lose a hockey holiday in Kyiv and spend Eurovision in May.

In addition, it is inconvenient to call there. At the Sports Palace, the arrival from below, from the zero floor, and the entire arena with a floor is higher. Massive equipment will need to be imported for a month. And in the International Exhibition Center, heavy vehicles drive directly into a large gate. The advantages are obvious.

There were never such large events on the left bank of Kyiv

Vitaly Portnikov: It seems to me that there were never such large events on the left bank of Kiev.

Alexey Reznikov: There were several concerts in this international exhibition center, and there was a very large OSCE conference.

Vitaly Portnikov: In any case, on TV they did not show this.

Alexey Reznikov: Yes, really.

Vitaly Portnikov: What difficulties do you see on the way of implementing the project?

Alexey Reznikov: This is maybe a loss of time or some tenders. We now have a very rigidly settled purchase system, this is the right approach in terms of combating corruption, but at the same time, it strongly burdens the rotation of fast wheels. Why were some rules even changed by voting in parliament? The task is not to lose the pace, to move and fulfill the plan, which is already written today and not written, and not pull the blanket over the departments, which is inherent in our society (this is probably still Soviet heritage).

There are no such difficulties that the country and the city will not cope with. Do not forget that here we invest not only money, but also our efforts in the image of the country, city, capital. Мы должны развить то, что сделала Джамала, показать европейцам, что даже в состоянии войны, прямой агрессии со стороны соседней страны мы - уверенно стоящее на ногах государство.

Виталий Портников: Насколько я понимаю, даже насчет бюджетирования мероприятия были серьезные дискуссии. Когда принимался госбюджет на этот год, пришлось забирать на фестиваль деньги общественного вещания, потому что иначе их просто неоткуда было взять.

Нет таких трудностей, с которыми не справятся страна и город

Алексей Резников: Бесспорно. По большому счету члены Европейского вещательного союза, то есть национальные вещатели должны проводить эти мероприятия за свой бюджет — это же их шоу. Но мы понимаем, что таких денег у нашего общественного телевидения нет, поэтому государство подставило плечо и выставило 15 миллионов евро на банковскую гарантию для фестиваля. Город сказал: и мы подставим плечо, - и добавил финансирование - 200 миллионов гривен. То есть киевляне помогли своими деньгами, территориальная община города Киева через депутатов Киевсовета приняло решение: да, мы выделяем из городского бюджета 200 миллионов гривен. То есть два бюджета, государственный и городской, вместе финансируют это мероприятие.

Виталий Портников: А на что пойдет бюджет?

Алексей Резников: Мы отдаем деньги в виде прямой субвенции общественному телевидению, они будут тратить, но наши люди в тендерных комитетах будут их контролировать. Основные траты будут на аренду арены, создание пресс-центра на 1500 человек, Евроклуб и Еврогородок. Еще - оплата ряда специалистов, в том числе иностранных, которые будут работать над проектом.

Виталий Портников: Почему вы говорите о двух неделях? Евровидение - очень короткий фестиваль: несколько полуфиналов, финал - и до свидания.

Мы должны показать европейцам, что даже в состоянии войны мы - уверенно стоящее на ногах государство

Алексей Резников: Есть еще репетиции: у каждого полуфинала будет своя репетиция, у финала тоже. На репетиции продаются билеты. Это полная версия полуфинала, только без голосования. Часто случается, что картинка во время репетиции, снятая в один дубль, ярче и лучше, чем картинка, которая получается на полуфинале или финале. В эфир иногда попадает картинка с репетиции. Так что событий будет шесть, и все это будет происходить раньше.

Виталий Портников: Известна ли стоимость билетов? Сами украинцы смогут туда попасть?

Алексей Резников: Безусловно. Компания выиграла тендер, она будет официальным распространителем билетов. Билеты скоро должны появиться в продаже, причем продажа будет онлайн, это электронные билеты. Вы можете зайти на сайт и купить себе билет от обычного до фан-зоны и до удобного VIP-места. Когда я спросил европейцев, где должны быть VIP-зоны для политиков, они говорят: в смысле? Ну, как же, наверное, захочет прийти президент страны, премьер, депутаты, министры… Они говорят: да, конечно, президенты, премьеры, конгрессмены и прочий политический бомонд имеют привилегированное место в первом ряду у себя дома на диване. Евровидение — это демократический проект, хотят — пусть покупают билеты.

VIP-места будут для тех, кто купит билет подороже. VIP-мест для особо приглашенных не существует, кроме членов делегаций, у которых будет своя отдельная территория, где смогут находиться только члены делегации и исполнители — это и есть самые привилегированные люди.

Виталий Портников: То есть Петр Порошенко может попасть в привилегированную зону, если станет тренером исполнителя, например.

Алексей Резников: Хорошая идея!

Виталий Портников: Как вы думаете, на Евровидении будут российские туристы?

У нас есть хороший опыт обеспечения безопасности

Алексей Резников: Конечно, я уверен, что они поедут. Это все-таки праздник, надо поддержать своего исполнителя. Я думаю, они смогут убедиться, что здесь никто никого не кушает, не пьет ничью кровь, что нет тех глупостей, которые распространяет их телевидение, увидят, насколько мы гостеприимны.

Виталий Портников: А могут быть провокации? Ведь им же очень хочется показать, что это провальная история.

Алексей Резников: Современный мир, к сожалению, не без провокаций. Увы, сегодня люди не чувствуют себя в безопасности ни в Ницце, ни в Брюсселе, ни в Стамбуле, ни в Берлине. У нас есть хороший опыт обеспечения безопасности. Напомню об июньском Прайде, например: все предрекали, что там будет что-то страшное. Мы сумели обеспечить безопасность участников этого шествия, и не было ни проблем, ни происшествий.

Было много радикально настроенных противников этого шествия, но мы смогли это сделать, в отличие от прошлых лет, то есть опыт учит. Учится наша национальная полиция и другие правоохранительные органы. Сегодня мы уверены в том, что сможем локализировать любую провокацию.