On March 28th, the Russian Association of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain (RACIB) named the winners of its prestigious Blockchain-Economics awards which celebrate the best projects that utilize new digital technologies. In the category of Best Digital Practice Using Blockchain in the Media Sphere the winner was Skolkovo Foundation resident and innovative system for decentralization of film distribution MoviesChain by TVzavr.
The platform chosen by RACIB experts enables filmmakers to independently put their new films online for viewing and significantly reduces marketing and distribution costs. MoviesChain, a project developed by TVzavr specialists, was presented this year at both the Berlin International Film Festival and the Filmart Film Market in Hong Kong. It has aroused considerable interest especially from independent film studios that want to eliminate the budgetary dictatorship imposed by intermediaries.
Blockchain technology will allow rightsholders to earn revenues from each film viewed in real time. ZVR tokens, the service’s internal currency to be used for all transactions on the MoviesChain platform, will go on sale in May.
The awards ceremony took place during the biggest event in the industry, the BlockchainRF Congress. The ceremony host, Alexander Lyubimov said: “The industry is on the rise, the choice of nominees is not accidental. Everything is honest and transparent here. As it should be in blockchain.”
TVzavr’s general director, Aleksandr Pavlov, was handed the prize by RACIB president Yury Pripachkin. “Why MoviesChain? This is a real platform completely built on the blockchain. This is a breakthrough in media history. Because the media industry is waiting for a change in the relationship of cinema producers and distributors, and MoviesChain is in the forefront of this process. Many people had similar ideas, but Tvzavr is the first to implement them”, – commented Pripachkin choice of experts.
Dr. Jessica Hope Jordan, creator and co-chair of the UC Davis Film Symposium, cinema historian, believes that “TVzavr’s Movieschain innovative VoD platform, with its focus on providing both Indie filmmakers and viewers’ direct digital access to the apparatus of Indie film production and unique global film content, as well as direct access to film festivals and digital venues for film distribution and exhibition, represents the next step in the evolution of cinema by radically shifting the control of film production and distribution away from the large media conglomerates and middle-man distributors into the hands of direct-revenue creative Indie filmmakers and entrepreneurs.”
“In 2017, TVzavr became a resident of the Skolkovo Foundation with its MoviesChain project. The project’s main idea and goals are to shorten the distance between rightsholders and viewers and to allow small independent studios the opportunity to integrate into the market and share their content to consumers. There is currently a significant number of intermediaries that take part in the process of arrangements made between rightsholders and Internet movie theaters. They create their own packages and have a strong hold regulating the market. This makes it difficult for small studios to enter it. The goal of MoviesChain by TVzavr is to shorten this process and bring rightsholders closer to viewers. This will open new opportunities for independent film studios,” says Aleksandr Pavlov, CEO of TVzavr Development.
“It’s no secret that distributed registry technologies are being applied and integrated into various fields far beyond the limits of cryptocurrencies. The biggest question up in the air is for which tasks the distributed registry can be justified. For example, if it provides more efficiency than traditional centralized databases. One of the most promising areas is in distribution of various content: media, gaming, or anything else. The magic here is in getting rid of the intermediary agent between content producers and consumers while maintaining transparency. This is exactly what MoviesChain by TVzavr does. The Skolkovo Foundation is actively searching for and supporting solutions like this both for content itself as well as related technologies (distribution, advertising, and so on). I think that this award is well deserved and I wish MoviesChain the best of luck!” says Aleksey Kalenchuk, Head of the Virtual and Augmented Reality and Gaming Technology IT Cluster at the Skolkovo Foundation.
