Culture institutions close curtain on Russia over Ukraine
| Rome
The cultural backlash against聽Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine聽intensified Tuesday as the Cannes Film Festival said no Russian delegations would be welcome this year and the Venice festival announced free screenings of a film about the 2014 conflict in Ukraine鈥檚 eastern Donbass region.
The announcements by Europe鈥檚 two premier film festivals came on the heels of other high-profile protests in the arts, including聽Hollywood鈥檚 decision to pull films scheduled for release in Russia聽and the聽Munich Philharmonic鈥檚 decision to fire chief conductor Valery Gergiev. The orchestra, joined by other orchestras and festivals linked to Mr. Gergiev, cited his support for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his refusal to reject the invasion.
Cannes, which is scheduled for May, is the most global of film festivals and its international village of flag-waving pavilions annually hosts more than 80 countries from around the world.
In a statement, festival organizers said the ban on any official Russian delegation or individuals linked to the Kremlin would remain 鈥渦nless the war of assault ends in conditions that will satisfy the Ukrainian people.鈥�
The festival didn鈥檛 rule out accepting films from Russia. In recent years, Cannes has showcased films from filmmakers like聽Kirill Serebrennikov, even though the director has been unable to attend. Mr. Serebrennikov is under a three-year travel ban after being accused of embezzlement by the Russian government in a case that was protested by the Russian artistic community and in Europe.
Hollywood continued pulling its films out of Russian theaters. After the Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros., and Sony announced they would halt distributing films in Russia, including Warner鈥檚 highly anticipated 鈥淭he Batman,鈥� Paramount Pictures announced likewise on Tuesday. That includes upcoming releases like 鈥淪onic the Hedgehog 2鈥� and 鈥淭he Lost City.鈥�
The Venice Film Festival, meanwhile, said it was organizing free screenings of the film 鈥淩eflection,鈥� about the conflict in Ukraine鈥檚 eastern Donbass region as a sign of solidarity with the people of Ukraine.
The screenings are scheduled for next week in Rome, Milan, and Venice.
The film, which was presented in competition at Venice last year, tells the story of a Ukrainian surgeon who is taken prisoner by Russia during the Donbass conflict in eastern Ukraine. In 2014, Russia threw its weight behind an insurgency in the mostly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine region known as Donbass, where Russia-backed rebels seized government buildings and proclaimed the creation of 鈥減eople鈥檚 republics.鈥�
鈥淩eflection鈥� shows the horrors of war as well as the surgeon鈥檚 efforts to rebuild relationships after he was freed.
It was directed by Ukrainian director Valentyn Vasyanovych, whose film 鈥淎tlantis鈥� in 2019 was also set in eastern Ukraine and dealt with similar issues of war and trauma. 鈥淎tlantis鈥� won the Best Film award in the experimental Orizzonti section of the 2019 Venice Film Festival and was Ukraine鈥檚 candidate for the Oscars.
Earlier this week, the art exhibition of the Venice Biennale, of which the annual film festival is a part, announced the curator and artists of Russia鈥檚 pavilion had quit their positions to protest the war in Ukraine.
Last week, the European Broadcasting Union announced聽Russia would not be allowed to enter an act for this year鈥檚 Eurovision Song Contest, to be held in Turin in May.
The 2016 winner of the Eurovision contest was Ukrainian singer Jamala, who won with a song about the 1944 deportations of Crimean Tatars by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin. On Tuesday, it emerged that she had fled Ukraine for Turkey with her own two children.
A Crimean Tatar, Jamala told reporters in Istanbul that she never imagined that she would end up sharing the same fate as her grandmother, who she said 鈥渉ad just 15 minutes to pack鈥� during the forced deportations of 1944.
The singer said she left Kyiv for Ternopil, in western Ukraine, where she thought her family would be safe, but decided to cross into Romania when she woke up to the sound of explosions there, too. Her husband, like all men aged 18-to-60, remained in Ukraine.
This story was reported by the Associated Press.
Editor鈥檚 note: Check out the Monitor鈥檚 comprehensive Ukraine coverage from correspondents in Ukraine, Europe, the United States, and beyond on our Ukraine page.
