Between December 21 and 26 Gazprom in cooperation with Universal Pictures will hold a series of New Year charity events for the children in need of social support. They will enjoy entertainment programs, contests, presents and the pre-premiere screening of the Black Lightning movie. More than 12.5 thousand children in 34 Russian cities will participate in the events.

In five cities – Moscow, Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg, Novy Urengoy and Tomsk – the children’s festive events will be attended by the movie creators: producer Timur Bekmambetov, directors Alexander Voitinsky and Dmitry Kiselev, actors Ekaterina Vilkova, Grigory Dobrygin, Ivan Zhidkov and Sergey Garmash.

Background:

Gazprom is a traditional supporter of orphan homes and boarding schools, offers individual aid to socially disadvantaged and handicapped children. The Company annually holds New Year festive events for them.

In 2009 these festive events will take place in Astrakhan, Belgorod, Beloyarskoye, Volgograd, Yekaterinburg, Yeisk, Ivanovo, Izhevsk, Irkutsk, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Krasnodar, Makhachkala, Moscow, Nadym, Noyabrsk, Novy Urengoy, Orenburg, Samara, Saratov, Saint Petersburg, Smolensk, Stavropol, Surgut, Tomsk, Tula, Tyumen, Ukhta, Ufa, Cheboksary, Chaikovsky, Chelyabinsk, Khabarovsk and Yugorsk.

The idea behind the movie selected for the charity event is consonant with Gazprom’s motto: “Dreams come true”.

In parallel with children’s festive events, the premiere of the Black Lightning movie will be on in Moscow, Krasnodar, Yekaterinburg, Novy Urengoy and Tomsk under Gazprom’s support. The movie will be in wide release on December 31.

Universal Pictures is a part of Universal Studios entering into NBC, the world’s leading holding in the mass media and entertainment industry. Set up in May 2004 as a result of the merger between NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a premier motion picture company, a television stations group and a network of theme parks.