Christopher Vourlias Despite widespread calls to boycott Russian cinema in the wake of the Ukraine invasion, the Cannes Film Festival struck an uneasy compromise by banning state delegations and Russians with ties to President Vladimir Putin while allowing individual filmmakers to attend.It’s a decision iconoclastic Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov was quick to support on the eve of the world premiere of his latest feature, “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” which bows in competition on May 18.The director was a no-show at his last two Cannes premieres due in no small part to a history of provocation and dissent against the Russian government.
But Serebrennikov – who after a nearly five-year legal ordeal learned on March 28 that he could leave Russia a free man – insists that the type of subversive cinema he creates should be separated from pro-Kremlin propaganda and the “paranoid ideology” of the Putin regime. “Russian culture is about the fragility of life.
It’s about people who are under oppression. Who are fighting for truth or justice,” he tells Variety. “That’s real culture. Not ideological culture.
Not propaganda. I think it’s not good to boycott this kind of culture.”When the director ascends the stairs of Cannes’ Grand Théâtre Lumière for the premiere of “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” it will have been a long time coming.
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