Russian Mila Grekova, who spent many years translating Hollywood films, was fired immediately after Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine.
The five Hollywood giants - Disney, Warner Bros., Universal, Sony Pictures and Paramount - released new films there, and Russian cinema dropped their new shows.
But Grekova did not turn to President Vladimir Putin.
"What I hate today is the West, not Putin," the 56-year-old said.
He said Bollywood could replace Hollywood in Russia, but it was too late to learn Hindi. As the Russian film industry began to recover from the COVID-19 crisis, the crisis in Ukraine came crashing down.
And, as in many places affected by the sanctions, the film industry has turned its eyes from the West to its own cinema, or from Asia to the East.
According to the European Audiovisual Observatory, Russians are the most attended cinema in Europe with 145.7 million last year.
Many people can watch dubbed Hollywood movies without subtitles.
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Prior to Hollywood's withdrawal, Russian company Mosfilm-Master was dubbing about 10 foreign films a month, mostly in English. "We have now lost two-thirds of our business," company director Yevgeny Belin told AFP in front of a high-performance dubbing machine in Moscow.
"At the time, there was a global epidemic, we saw films, but we did not open cinemas. Today we have cinemas but no films," he said.
The Russian National Association of Cinema Owners said last month that cinemas risked losing up to 80% of their revenue.
For editing, Mosfilm-Master is looking for Korean and Mandarin translators. Due to cultural differences, Belin said, "I don't think Asian films will work for Russians." A 70-year-old man who has been voice acting for 30 years said, "Westerns are closer to us."
Olga Zinyakova, president of Karo, one of Russia's top filmmakers, said she believed the economy could be restructured.
"The situation is very difficult, but there is no damage," said the 37-year-old.
“Since the emergence of Hollywood in Soviet Russia 30 years ago, we have gone through many political, economic and social upheavals,” he said. There are 1,500 pitches.
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Since the dispute began on February 24, the number of ticket sales at 35 cinemas in Caro has fallen by 70%, Zinyakova said. The Russian government has promised huge financial and tax cuts for film and feature film production to replace Hollywood films with a variety of their own.
"Russians are going to dive deep into themselves," Zinyakova said, referring to the success of Russian films from the 1990s, such as the cult film Brat ("Lord"), which is being played again in several cinemas in Moscow.
Zinyakova also plans to include more Asian and Latin American films in future releases.
"When Hollywood returns, the Russian economy and the public will not be what they used to be," he said.
Pavel Doreuli, a 44-year-old sound producer who works on 15 Russian films a year, says he's not surprised Hollywood pulled out of Russia. He said important films like Cannes and Berlin were not about art, but about promoting "special value".
However, Doreuli pointed to the exclusion of Russian politicians from this year's Cannes Film Festival, saying it was a shame Russia was cut off from world cinema.
He said, "If it hadn't been for international cinema, Russians would have given up films that present a view of the world that is very valuable today."
(Source: //AFP)