Favourable place to live

Dozens of people gather at Minsk President Hotel’s Round Hall to watch short video, seeing the country through professionals’ eyes: warm, open and sincere
Dozens of people gather at Minsk President Hotel’s Round Hall to watch short video, seeing the country through professionals’ eyes: warm, open and sincere 

Around three decades ago, American President Regan watched the Soviet Oscar-winning film Moscow Does not Believe in Tears around eight times, just before his first meeting with the USSR leader. He wanted to understand the mysteries of the ‘Russian soul’.

Today, you can gain understanding of our modern and independent country by perusing a simple five minute video, entitled Belarus: Country to Live. Highly artistic, it boasts vivid images of famous Minsk views and monuments of Belarusian architecture, shot from above, showing the beauty of nature and smiling faces, of all ages, and from all walks of life.

Director Valery Kravchuk tells us, “Our task was to shoot a film able to evoke emotion, and it seems that we’ve succeeded. Of course, audiences will give their verdict.”

His colleague, Vladimir Popov, adds, “This is the first project of its kind made fully by Belarusians. We now boast our own first national image project.”

The video should create recognition for the country worldwide. Results are already evident, although shooting such highly artistic country-related videos is always risky, since tastes vary widely. In fact, the reality has exceeded expectations. The Information Ministry, which organised the project, did well, as Minister Lilia Ananich emphasizes. She notes, “Foreign TV channels are keen to promote the video and, accordingly, our country. This means we’re loved and understood. Not long ago, we released a Discovery film on the Belovezhskaya Pushcha, which has had around 40,000 YouTube hits. The new video will help us supplement and promote information on our country abroad. Such TV channels as СТС, Euronews and RTVi have already expressed interest.”

January will see talks with Euronews regarding broadcasting of the Belarusian video, as well as by national channels. Press Secretary Dmitry Mironchik, who heads the Information Department at the Foreign Ministry, is convinced that the English language film will inspire greater interest in the country worldwide and foresees the film reaching an ever wider audience.

By Mikhail Yevseev
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