Russian films will not be considered for this year’s European Film Awards after news yesterday that director Sergei Loznitsa had dropped out of the organization.
Update March 1: The European Film Academy (EFA) issued a statement on March 1, officially excluding Russia from the 2022 European Film Awards.
“The academy strongly condemns the war started by Russia – the sovereignty and territory of Ukraine must be respected,” said a statement shared with IndieWire. “Putin’s actions are brutal and completely unacceptable, and we strongly condemn them.
The letter continues: “We are most worried about the fate of Ukrainians and our hearts are with the Ukrainian film community. We are fully aware that several of our members are fighting with weapons against the aggressor. Therefore, the Academy will exclude Russian films from this year’s European Film Awards, and we support every element of the boycott.
EFA also acknowledged that “this reaction should have come earlier”, according to criticism by Director Sergei Loznitsa about EFA’s initial response.
“But our democratic processes had to be followed,” EFA said. “While they were taking place, the European Film Academy, working behind the scenes in parallel and quietly, managed to raise funds and set up support structures.”
EFA concluded: “We therefore take this opportunity to express our unequivocal protest against this heinous war and to reaffirm and reiterate our full and complete solidarity with the heroic people of Ukraine.
Posted on February 28: Director Sergei Loznitsa has criticized the European Film Academy (EFA) for its response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Loznitsa expressed his criticism in an open letter published on February 28 in Screen Daily before leaving the Academy.
“What a shameful text the European Film Academy has created! “The invasion of Ukraine worries us greatly,” Loznitsa wrote, quoting an email EFA Director Matthias Water Knoll had previously sent to The Hollywood Reporter on February 24. “In your address you state that there are 61 Ukrainian members among your ranks. Well, to date, they are only 60. I don’t need to “be vigilant and keep in touch with me”, thank you very much! “
Earlier, EFA issued a statement: “On behalf of the community of over 4,200 members of the European Film Academy, we want to express our solidarity with you.
European cinema has always been shaped by important values [of] human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights, “the EFA added. “As an academy and through our work, we strongly support these values and protest against any violation [of them]. Make sure we stand behind you, supporting your work in the best way we can. ”
EFA President Mike Downey told The Hollywood Reporter in an email on February 24 that although “moral outrage” was needed after Russia’s violent invasion of Ukraine, it was “not so useful at the moment.” Downey added: “It’s a little too early to react, but we are monitoring the situation with our board, as well as colleagues in border countries like Poland, to see how we can all work together to provide practical support for all Ukrainian directors. who may need it. “
In an open letter, the director of Donbass, Loznitsa, condemned EFA’s weak response, writing: “For four days in a row, the Russian army has been ravaging Ukrainian towns and villages, killing Ukrainian citizens. Is it really possible for you – humanists, defenders of human rights and dignity, defenders of freedom and democracy – to be afraid to call war a war, to condemn barbarism and to express your protest?
Loznitsa continued that “there can be no doubt about one thing: the European Film Academy was established in 1989 to bury its head in the sand and get away from the catastrophe that is happening in Europe.”
Loznitsa recently told IndieWire that “as far as Ukrainians are concerned, the war has been going on for eight years. Somehow, psychologically, Ukrainians are almost accustomed to this situation of life in a potentially dangerous wartime.
Loznitsa’s 2018 film Donbass, which represented Ukraine in the international Oscar competition (not in the top five), includes a series of 13 vignettes, including corruption and suffering at the heart of everyday life in Ukraine. The prologue includes actors hired to testify on fake news after bombings, with families rushing to bomb shelters, and a Ukrainian prisoner of war attacked by separatists.
“The nature of the conflict has nothing to do with nationality,” Loznitsa said. “Soviet against anti-Soviet, not Russia against Ukraine. It is really about the conflict between the past and the present. Now everyone is finally seeing it. “
Loznitsa also offers a look at what the world will look like if Putin succeeds: “People will be subjected to the same kind of corruption – moral and psychological – as during the Iron Curtain,” the director said. “The most important thing that happens in these times is what happens to people’s morale, because they feel comfortable doing evil things, just like what the authorities do to them.
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