“We wanted to mark our disapproval, however modest it may be”, explains Thierry Frémaux, general delegate of the Cannes Film Festival, Tuesday March 1 on franceinfo, while the film festival has decided “not to welcome” Russian delegations for the edition which is held from May 17 to 28. “Unless the war of aggression ceases”he added.
franceinfo: Why this decision to ban Russian delegations?
Thierry Fremaux: It’s a way for us to protest against what is happening there. Europe is at war. In the world of sport and culture, voices are heard, and we had to make ours heard. It’s complicated because Cannes is in three months, we don’t know what the situation will be. It’s also complicated because we want to support the Ukrainian people and at the same time, we also want to say that there are people who are protesting against this war inside Russian territory. The Russian filmmakers that we are used to hosting at Cannes have been alerting us for years to the situation imposed on the Russian people by the government of Vladimir Putin. We wanted to support the Ukrainians. Cannes is used to hosting Ukrainian filmmakers. Sergei Loznitsa, who was still in the official selection last year, told us that this support was precious. We wanted to mark our disapproval, however modest it may be.
Is it rare for the Cannes Film Festival to engage in politics?
Yes and no. The Festival often does a lot of politics because the artists do it, and we show their films. But let’s not forget that Cannes was born in 1939 in protest against the Venice Film Festival, at the hands of Goebbels and Mussolini, and that Jean Zay and Philippe Erlanger [créateurs de Cannes] said we needed a festival of the free world. Cannes has always been imbued with this idea. When in 1946 the Festival resumed, it was on the years of hope, of the idea that there would never be a war again. We therefore feel completely in the thread of the story. There is no question for us of welcoming official delegations from the Russian government.
What is the impact on expected Russian films or actors?
It’s far too early to tell. The selection is just beginning. We haven’t seen a Russian or Ukrainian film yet. This is not the question that arises. remember the movie Leviathan by Andreï Zvyagintsev: no work than this can better say what has become of Russia under the government of Vladimir Putin recently. We also have filmmakers like Alexandre Sokourov who were able to show at the beginning, when Putin arrived, their support for this government, and who have since changed their minds. The scale of the protest should not be underestimated, because it is deaf and there is repression. We also want to be alongside these filmmakers.
Will there be a boycott of Russian films?
I say watch out. The Russian films we show are anti-Putin. Filmmakers, when they take the camera, it’s often to tell truths that the Russian people don’t know, because of the manipulation of public opinion.