Magicians from Kyivkinofilm/Kyivkultcluster: How Kyiv’s cinemas disappear on paper

Civil society activists continue to investigate the circumstances of the destruction of the European  Cultural Center Krakow (ECC Krakow) by the Kyiv City Council and the peculiarities of the corruption  processes around the building of the Krakow cinema at 12 Rusanivska Embankment, Kyiv. New conclusions after studying the relevant documents and current legislation in the field of culture  regarding the use of the property of the Krakow cinema and its archive by the city executive authorities  (the Department of Culture of the Kyiv City State Administration and Kyivkinofilm / Kyivkultcluster)  were published by Oleksandr Chunaev, editor-in-chief of the website of the Rusanivka Neighborhood  Committee, a self-organized body of the population of Kyiv.

The available documents show that the Kyiv authorities have committed many violations of legislation at  the national and city levels in the matter of the Krakow JCC. They can be conditionally divided into  three legal blocks. In this article, we will present the first block.

Block one

Violation by the Kyivcultcluster municipal enterprise of the legislation on the status of the state  municipal enterprise (SPE) Krakow Cinema and its successor, the municipal enterprise European  Cultural Center Krakow (ECC Krakow), as legal entities.

The appearance of the name «Kyiv Cultural Cluster Krakow» on the facade of the former Krakow Cinema on May 5, 2023, the approval of Order No. 32/2 «On Approval of the Structure  and Staffing of the Kyiv Cultural Cluster» by the Director of the Kyiv Cultural Cluster on May 12, its  inclusion in the Register of Municipal Enterprises of the Territorial Community of Kyiv on the same  day, and its holding of cultural events in this building since June 3, 2023, violated certain legislative acts.

By the order of the head of the Kyiv City State Administration of February 17, 1998, No. 324, the Charter  of the State Communal Enterprise (SCE) Krakow Cinema (new edition) was approved. By the way, he  did not make any changes to it and it was in force until the reorganization of this enterprise.

By the decision of the Kyiv City Council of April 29, 2004, No. 211/1421, the Regulation on the Register  of Communal Enterprises of the Territorial Community of the City of Kyiv was approved, and the  authority to maintain it was vested in the Main Department (now the Department) of Communal Property of the Kyiv City State Administration.

The basis for entering information into the Register is a decision of the Kyiv City Council to establish a  municipal enterprise. The Main Department of Communal Property of the City of Kyiv of the Kyiv City  State Administration is obliged to register the municipal enterprise (enter it in the Register) within one week after the Kyiv City Mayor signs the decision of the Kyiv City Council on the establishment of the  municipal enterprise.

19 enterprises

By the decision of the Kyiv City Council of the V convocation of April 26, 2007, No. 450/1111 «On  the municipal enterprise of the executive body of the Kyiv City Council (Kyiv City State Administration)  «Kyivkinofilm», the municipal enterprise «Kyivkinofilm» was established based  on the property of 19 enterprises (!) that were reorganized by merger, and the first version of its Charter  was approved (paragraphs 1 and 3 of this decision of the Kyiv City Council). Later, paragraph 1 of this  decision was amended by the Kyiv City Council’s decision No. 691/8028 of July 12, 2012, the most  recent amendment.

By the KCSA Order No. 688 of June 12, 2007 «On organizational and legal measures for the  establishment of a municipal enterprise of the executive body of the Kyiv City Council (KCSA)  «Kyivkinofilm», this enterprise was placed under the management of the Main Department  of Culture and Arts of the KCSA. The said structural unit of the KCSA was instructed to take  rganizational and legal measures to transfer and assign to this municipal enterprise the property of these  enterprises on the right of economic management following the annex to the order.

Interestingly, the Krakow Cinema was not included in the municipal enterprise and remained a  municipal property of the Kyiv territorial community with separate financing of its activities from the  city budget.

By the decision of the Kyiv City Council of the VIII convocations of December 12, 2016, No. 587/1591  «On the reorganization of the state municipal enterprise of the Krakow Cinema», this  enterprise was reorganized by transforming it into a municipal enterprise of the executive body of the  Kyiv City Council (KCSA) «European Cultural Center Krakow». In other words, after 8 years of the Krakow Cinema being a private enterprise, it was reorganized into a new municipal enterprise and ceased to exist.

The KCSA Resolution of August 30, 2017, No. 1050 approved the Charter of the municipal enterprise of  the executive body of the Kyiv City Council (Kyiv City State Administration) «European Cultural  Center Krakow» (ECC Krakow). On May 07, 2018, this municipal enterprise was registered as a  legal entity at 12 Rusanivska Embankment. By the decision of the Kyiv City Council of the VIII convocation dated November 21, 2017, No. 498/3505, the next amendments to the Charter of  Kyivkinofilm were approved, which was adopted in a new version. By the decision of the Kyiv City  Council of the VIII convocations of November 12, 2019, No. 29/7602 «On Amendments to the  Charters of Municipal Enterprises of the Territorial Community of Kyiv in the Field of Culture», the Charter of Kyivkinofilm was once again amended and adopted in a new version.

16 cinemas

By the decision of the Kyiv City Council of the IX convocation on March 2, 2023, No. 6039/6080,  Kyivkinofilm (EDRPOU code 35531906) was renamed Kyiv Cultural Cluster (Kyivcultcluster) and its  newly revised Charter was approved.

According to the Charter of Kyivcultcluster, it is recognized as the  legal successor of the property, rights, and obligations of 16 CINEMAS (!), which in 2007-2017, by the decision of the Kyiv City Council,  became part of it through the reorganization of the respective separate municipal enterprises. According  to the law, the municipal enterprise is based on the communal property of the territorial community of  Kyiv, is subordinated to the Department of Culture of the Kyiv City State Administration, and belongs to  the basic network of local cultural institutions.

ECC Krakow was also not included in this network. This decision of the city deputies has no analogs in  the management system of the city’s state-owned municipal and communal cinemas subordinated  to the Main Department of Culture and Arts/Main Department of Culture/Department of Culture of the  KCSA, which were reorganized by merging them or transforming them into new municipal enterprises.  The principle of renaming does not correspond to the very principles of reorganization of the enterprises  mentioned in it, but the city deputies did not notice this when making their decision.

9 cinemas

According to the order of the Kyivcultcluster of May 12, 2023, approving a fairly large staff of 243 units  with a monthly payroll of UAH 1,134,055.20. It is in this document that only 9 CINEMAS are listed next to the staffing levels:

• – DSK Start,
• – DSK Fakel,
• – Florence,
• – Bratislava,
• – Leipzig,
• – Kyivska Rus,
• – Taras Shevchenko,
• – Russia,
• – Chapaev

and there are full-time employees of the structural unit – «Cultural Cluster «Krakow» in  the amount of 49 people (more than 20%) with a monthly payroll of 190,823.80 UAH (more than  16.8%) without taxes and additional payments to the minimum wage.

«The staffing list was approved by Denys Khomych, director of Kyivcultcluster, its chief accountant  Zhanna Osadchenko, and Serhiy Anzhyak, director of the KCSA Department of Culture, who  are personally responsible for violating the above-mentioned legislative acts by this order», – Chunayev said. The list of violations of cultural legislation by the city executive authorities can also  include violations of the KyivKinoFilm Charter. After it was approved by the Kyiv City Council on  26.04.2007, it was approved three more times in a new version (by the decisions of the Kyiv City Council  on 21.11.2017, 12.11.2019, and 02.03.2023).

«As a result, by their actions in 2023 and the said order of the Kyivcultcluster, these persons violated at  least 9 acts of legislation – 6 decisions of the Kyiv City Council of three convocations and 3 orders of the  Kyiv City State Administration and the Charters of the 2 mentioned utilities, that is, 11 legal acts», –  Chunaev said.

As a reminder, the renovation of the Krakow cinema building at 12 Rusanivska Embankment ended in  another scandal. After its completion, the management of KyivKinoFilm, together with the Department  of Culture of the Kyiv City State Administration, decided to re-register as the Kyiv Cultural Cluster,  occupy the cinema building, and expel the European Cultural Center Krakow Municipal Enterprise with  its teams, which were supposed to develop their cultural activities in the Krakow premises.