The 75th Cannes Film Festival, to run from May 17 to 28, may not invite Russian delegations – given the Ukrainian war. The Festival said in a statement, “As the world has fallen into a grave crisis and sees part of Europe in a state of war, the Cannes Film Festival would like to express its support to the Ukrainian people and to all those who are currently in Ukraine.
“As modest as it can be, we are joining all those who are opposing this unacceptable situation and are denouncing the stance of Russia and its leaders. We have a particular thought for the artists and professionals within the Ukrainian movie world, as with their families whose lives are now in danger.”
Therefore, the Festival averred that it would not welcome official Russian delegations and “will not accept even the smallest presence of any institution linked to the Russian Government.”
The statement added, “Cannes will always serve artists and industry professionals who raise their voices to denounce violence, repression, and injustices for the main purpose of defending peace and liberty.”
In recent years, the Festival has made it a point to include films of those new generation of moviemakers who had voiced their opinions on political issues. Politically charged Kirill Serebrennikov from Russia has been one among the several such directors. His last two works, “Petrov’s Flu” and “Leto,” competed at the Festival.
Serebrennikov, who was accused by Moscow of embezzlement, is now under a three-year travel ban. His “Tchaikovsky’s Wife is expected to compete at Cannes this year. But this may not happen.”
Also, the European Film Awards has said that it “strongly condemns the war started by Russia” and decided to exclude Russian movies.
The Cannes Festival’s history is linked to dissent and dissatisfaction. Once, it played Jafar Panahi’s “This is Not a Film’ by having it smuggled from Iran in a pen drive, which was buried inside a cake! The auteur has been banned from making cinema for 20 years, but has still managed to make movies on the sly.
In fact, Cannes began in 1939 (though it had to wound up in three days because Hitler’s forces marched into Poland heralding World War II) as a protest against German and Italian domination of titles at the Venice Film Festival.
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