Marina Kuderchuk, the Kyiv-based head of the Ukrainian State Film Agency, has written to Pierre Lescure and Roberto Cicutto, the presidents of Cannes and Venice Film Festivals respectively, to call for a total ban on “all content created in Russia or co-productions with Russia” in their competition and non-competitive programmes.
In letters to both, Kuderchuk has responded to the festivals’ statements issued at the beginning of March that they would not be closing their doors to those who had defended free expression in Russia and protested against the invasion of Ukraine. She sad “the Russian Federation is unreservedly plagued by a totalitarian regime where the very notion of freedom is non-existent.”
“By supporting Russian filmmakers, you not only promote the aggression of the Russian Federation, but also help to finance it, Nowadays, this financing of a terrorist country, which no longer tolerates free and independent arts, is unacceptable,” Kuderchuk has written.
While recognising both festivals have “always been about celebrating the arts as one of the highest forms of human civilisation”, she argued that “pandering to the country that commits such nefarious transgressions in Europe goes against any notion of civility and every principle [the Festival de Cannes/the Venice Film Festival] stands for.”
In conclusion, Kuderchuk appealed to Lescure and Cicotto to be “more decisive in responding to the worst acts of aggression we have ever seen since World War II in Europe.”
The Ukrainian State Film Agency is continuing to operate. On a post on its Faceboook page it said: “We continue to work remotely: under different conditions and circumstances, but with the utmost diligence.” It added the latest selection process would be completed after the end of the martial law.
No comments yet