EFA President Agnieszka Holland Slams Cannes for Welcoming Russian Movie
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The Polish-born director – who fled to France in 1981 when Communist authorities imposed martial law – said now was the time to stand up to Russian aggression in Ukraine.
That demanded a total ban on Russian cultural products in Europe, she said in Cannes on Saturday.
The Oscar-nominated filmmaker, who’s 73, slammed the festival’s inclusion of Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov’s Tchaikovsky’s Wife.
“If it were up to me, I would not include Russian films in the official program of the festival – even if Kirill Serebrennikov is such a talented artist,” the filmmaker said.
Speaking in Cannes at an industry roundtable on supporting the Ukrainian film industry at a time of war, Holland added: “Unfortunately my bad feelings were confirmed by his words. He used the film’s festival press conference to praise a Russian oligarch the film’s funder, sanctioned billionaire Roman Abramovich and compare the tragedy of Russian soldiers to Ukrainian defenders. I would not give him such a chance at this very moment.”
Holland’s 2019 film Mr. Jones focuses on the true story of a Welsh journalist who in the 1930s discovered the truth of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s enforced famine in Ukraine – that left millions dead from starvation.
She added that all Russian culture, even 18th century classics, needed reviewing now as the consequences of “Russian imperialistic aggression” became clear.