The international film community finds itself at a similar crossroads. While the stakes are lower, global film festivals, producers, financiers, and distributors are faced with difficult decisions about how to deal with Russian cinema. The Ukrainian Film Academy has weighed in on the matter, encouraging the film industry to stop doing business with any Russian filmmakers who contribute tax revenue to the Russian government. In a new statement released from Kyiv, the group also called for film festivals to stop accepting films produced in Russia until the invasion ceases.
“Several films made by Russia are regularly admitted to the programs of most world film festivals, and significant resources are spent on their promotion. The result of this activity is not only the spread of propaganda messages and distorted facts. It also boosts the loyalty of Russian culture — the culture of the aggressor state, which unleashed unjustified and unprovoked war in central Europe,” the Academy wrote. The Ukrainian Film Academy is comprised of top artists and film industry figures from across Ukraine. More specific demands from the group include stripping the Moscow International Film Festival of its accreditation by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations, as well as removing Russia from top European filmmaking organizations. In addition to the debate over how to handle Russian cinema, the film industry is also facing questions about how to amplify Ukrainian artists in the wake of Russia’s war against the nation. IndieWire’s Eric Kohn recently called for the industry to increase its support for Ukrainian filmmakers, saying that recent Ukrainian films could have improved our understanding of the situation with Russia before the war began. “No matter how much Western media depicts it as coming out of nowhere, these stories track the gradual encroachment of Russian ideology that rooted across Ukraine in the buildup to Putin’s harrowing assault,” he wrote. “The movies saw it coming — but who saw the movies?” Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Sign up for our Email Newsletters here.
