Bazelevs

Bazelevs is a Russian production film company engaged in the production of feature films and commercials.

History

2022: Bazelevs sold to film studio general producer Lala Rustamova and commercial director Timur Asadov

On December 22, 2022, it became known that director Timur Bekmambetov sold the Bazelevs film studio, which created the Night Watch and Fir Trees. It was bought by the company's general producer Lala Rustamova and commercial director Timur Asadov. The parties did not disclose the financial terms of the agreement.

Lala Rustamova, in a conversation with RBC, only said that the amount of the transaction was provided by the company's revenue for 2022. We are talking about fees from the film distribution of "Christmas Trees 9" and other films, the sale of content rights on VOD platforms (online cinemas, streaming platforms and other Internet platforms) and television rights. The transaction was "commercial in nature and was done on market terms," she added.

Director Timur Bekmambetov

It is noted that the deal affected the Russian legal entity Bazelevs LLC, which was not legally connected with the American studio. Rustamova and Asadov will receive 50% of the company each. Russian Bazelevs continues to collaborate with Bekmambetov as a hired director and screenwriter on the animated film "Hodja Nasreddin." It is assumed that in 2023 either one or both companies - Russian and American - will change their name. The disclimer "Timur Bekmambetov Studio" will be removed from the website of the Russian Bazelevs.

The decision to sell Bazelevs in Russia was brewing "several years ago," says Lala Rustamova. It was associated with Bekmambetov's desire to move away from operational management and concentrate on the creative aspects of the work - directing and screenwriting. Negotiations were conducted with several market participants from different fields, however, according to Rustamova, following the results of the rental of the latest projects, Bekmambetov made a choice in favor of the company's producers. The decision was made on the basis of the rental of the continuation of "Christmas tree," the producers of which they acted: the film collected over 370 million rubles.^[1]

2019: Agreement with Microsoft on cooperation on digitalization of film production and the creation of an R&D laboratory

On September 17, 2019, it became known that Bazelevs and Microsoft agreed on strategic cooperation in the field of digitalization of film production. The companies intend to create a joint R&D laboratory, within which they will exchange ideas and expertise to create unique content and further develop products and services based on cloud technologies, artificial intelligence and analysis of Microsoft data in film production, as well as to promote and rent films and TV series. Read more here.

Notes