European Film Academy president Agnieszka Holland has criticized the Cannes Film Festival for welcoming a Russian movie to the main competition.
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 Academy Award-nominated filmmaker 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 73 year old 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, whose 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 – added that all Russian culture, even 18th century classics, needed reviewing now as the consequences of “Russian imperialistic aggression” became clear.