Russian Directors Confront Fleeing Putin’s War and Defy Calls for Russia Film Boycott

variety.com:

Christopher Vourlias As the war in Ukraine approaches a grim, three-month mile marker, and the Russian military continues its relentless onslaught, the harsh crackdown on domestic opposition by the Putin regime has left a beleaguered film industry pondering its next steps.

Many Russian filmmakers fear they’ll have no choice but to toe the party line, or to flee a country that is increasingly being shut out of the international community.Two-time Oscar nominee Alexander Rodnyansky (“Leviathan,” “Loveless”), the Kyiv-born producer who has called Russia home for nearly three decades, left Moscow on March 1 after being tipped off that his opposition to the war had landed him in the government’s crosshairs. “I cut off my business ties with Russia,” the producer tells Variety. “I left behind everything.” While a full-fledged exodus is not yet underway, many filmmakers are rethinking their futures. “I can’t see how I can be part of a [Russian film] community that will be charged with ideological tasks and has to comply with it,” says one long-time producer, who’s wrapping up all Moscow-based operations. “I don’t want to be a taxpayer in that sort of Russia, as being a part of the Russian economy today means to fuel a war machine.”The Russian industry’s growing presence on the Croisette will be greatly diminished when the Cannes Film Festival kicks off this week, after organizers decided to ban official state delegations from this year’s event.

Though the festival opened the door for individual filmmakers to attend — with Cannes regular Kirill Serebrennikov’s latest, “Tchaikovsky’s Wife,” playing in competition — many Russian filmmakers say they will sit this one out. “I feel uncomfortable to go, under the given circumstances,”.