He finds it “useless” to compete for the statuette in the current unfavorable world situation for Moscow due to the invasion of Ukraine
For the first time since the days of the Soviet Union, Moscow will boycott this year’s prestigious Oscars by not showing any films, adding to Russia’s growing cultural isolation. The Russian Film Academy yesterday announced its decision not to attend this year’s awards in the category of best foreign film at the 2023 gala.
Nikita Mijalkov, well known to the Spanish public, repeatedly praised at festivals and defender of President Vladimir Putin’s policies, finds it “useless” to compete for the statuette in the current unfavorable world situation for Moscow due to the invasion of Ukraine. “Selecting a film that represents Russia in a country that now denies the existence of Russia is simply useless,” Mikhalkov told the TASS agency. He noted that there is a proposal to create “a Eurasian equivalent” of the Oscars and that such a project is underway.
Such positioning has sparked the protest of three directors who are members of the committee responsible for submitting Russian feature films to the Oscars, including its boss, Pável Chujrái, who announced their decision to resign on Tuesday. The letter to members of the organization also stated that Nikolai Dostal and Andrei Zviánguintsev are also leaving the committee.
On Monday it was announced that the Presidium of the Russian Film Academy has decided not to nominate a film from Russia for the American Oscar in 2022. Except for the words of Mikhalkov, the reasons for this decision were not officially specified. According to Chujrái, it was passed “unilaterally” and “behind the back of the Oscars committee”, whose members “not only were not consulted, they did not even consider it necessary to notify”.
“I want to let you know that I am resigning my presidency and resigning from this organization in protest,” the film director wrote. Another Russian director, Alexei Uchitel, called for an urgent meeting of filmmakers with the presidium of the film academy to “correct the situation immediately”.
Russia won the award for best international feature film, previously known as best film in a foreign language, once before, in 1994 with Mikhalkov’s “Burnt by the Sun,” one of the loudest voices today in support of everything Putin does, including the war against Ukraine.
The last two Russian films to be nominated for best international feature film were ‘Leviathan’ and ‘No love’, directed in 2014 and 2017 by director Zviánguintsev, respectively. Both films depict thorny aspects of the country’s political problems, including corruption and the role of the Orthodox Church, which spark open controversy. The invasion of Ukraine has further divided the country’s cultural scene, with the exile of many directors, including Kantemir Balagov and Kira Kovalenko, two young and ambitious directors whose films entered the Oscars in 2019 and 2021.
Source: La Verdad
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