Ukrainian Film Academy asks for boycott of Russian cinema
Following the despicable events of the last week that have seen Vladimir Putin’s Russia invade Ukraine with fire and fury, the attacking country has been hit with destabilising political and economic sanctions as well as seeing demoralising cultural privileges revoked.
Such cultural sanctions include Russia being banned from participating in the Eurovision Song Contest, a key Formula One race being moved from the country in September and UEFA moving the Champions League final match from St. Petersburg to Paris.
In addition to this, the Ukrainian Film Academy has called for an international boycott of Russian cinema and the Russian film industry as a result of their flagrant attack on European democracy. Creating an online petition, the Academy has called for all producers to stop licensing their content for Russia, as well as international film festivals to ban all Russian cinema from participation.
In their continued efforts to fight against the bullish acts of the largest country in the world, the Ukrainian Film Academy condemned how Russia continues to benefit from cultural activity. In a statement, the Academy wrote, “Several films made by Russia are regularly admitted to the programs of most world film festivals, and significant resources are spent on their promotion”. Continuing, the statement reads, “The result of this activity is not only the spread of propaganda messages and distorted facts. It also boosts the loyalty of Russian culture — the culture of the aggressor state, which unleashed unjustified and unprovoked war in central Europe”.
Calling on producers and Hollywood studios to “terminate any business with business entities of the Russian Federation,” the Ukrainian Film Academy is looking to fight back against their aggressive assailants using whatever means necessary.
“Remember that the business that will use your films pays taxes to the Russian budget, which finances the army that violated the borders of an independent state and buys missiles to bomb the civilian population of Europe,” the statement further explains, pleading with the international industry of film and television to help Ukraine in a simple act of cultural restriction.
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