U.S., Soviet Film Makers Sign Pact, Slate Joint Documentary

U.S. and Soviet film makers signed a cooperation agreement today and said a joint documentary will be screened in both countries by the end of the year.

Mark Gurzon, president of the American-Soviet Film Initiative, described the agreement as a major step toward co-productions involving the exchange of actors and directors. He paid tribute to social reforms in the Soviet Union, which he said had helped bring it about.

“Without the changes that have taken place here, this exchange would not have been possible,” he told a news conference.

Producer Lindsay Smith said filming has already started on a joint documentary about Soviet and American life, to be shown on Soviet television later in the year.

“We are coming back here in March or April to finish shooting. The film should be ready by summer,” she said.

The U.S. delegation included British producer David Puttnam whose films include the Oscar-winning “Chariots of Fire.” He said he hopes to arrange similar contacts between Soviet and British film makers.

Soviet director Elem Klimov, head of the Soviet side of the program, said the agreement ended a two-year freeze in relations and added: “American people no longer know our films. It is time we put that right.”