Russian Industry Responds to Boycotts Over Ukraine War: Bans Are ‘Silencing the Russian Protest Voice’

variety.com:

Ukraine has drawn swift and wide-ranging condemnation from the international community, which has imposed unprecedented sanctions against President Vladimir Putin and his inner circle and pushed the Russian economy to a breaking point, with the ruble plummeting to historic lows on Monday.Amid calls for a boycott of Russian films that have received government support and a strident response from European media groups, cultural institutions, film festivals and industry confabs, the backlash has rattled Russian filmmakers with long-standing personal and professional ties to the continent’s screen industry.“The need for Europe to make a clear anti-war statement is understandable and necessary.

However, banning all Russians from the major cultural events is not only unhelpful — it’s harmful,” said one veteran producer. “Hundreds and thousands of Russian culture workers have openly disagreed with the government decision to start a war: They condemn its actions, go to protests, support Ukraine, risk being sentenced for treason.

Almost all of them didn’t vote for Putin.” The producer added: “By banning these people from international events, Europe is silencing the Russian protest voice, isolating people who want to stop the war together with people who want to escalate it.”In the wake of last week’s invasion, the Ukrainian Film Academy called for an international boycott of Russian cinema, urging pan-European institutions to exclude the country from financial instruments such as the Council of Europe’s Eurimages fund, while calling on producers, distributors and film festivals to reject “the culture of the aggressor state, which unleashed unjustified and unprovoked war in central Europe.” The group, which launched a Change.org.