The State Film Agency is asking the organizers of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF) to exclude the Russian film Deaf Lovers, directed by Boris Guts, from the festivalʼs main program.
This is stated on Derzhkinoʼs website.
"Given Russiaʼs aggression against Ukraine and the numerous sufferings of the Ukrainian people, it is especially important to ensure that cultural platforms do not become tools for films that blur the boundaries of Ukrainiansʼ understanding of reality," the agency noted.
Derzhkino believes that showing Russian films in the modern context carries the risk of propaganda, which justifies aggression and can be part of the information strategy of the aggressor.
It is interesting that the Russian film will be shown at the festival as part of the Standing with Ukraine program. In the same program there are also Ukrainian tapes — "Sentimental Journey to Planet Parajanov", "Peaceful People", "Porcelain War", "Editorial", "You are Cosmos" and others.
What is the movie "Deaf Lovers" about
The tape tells about the love of a Ukrainian migrant woman and a Russian man — they are played by Russian actors Daniil Gazizullin and Anastasia Shemyakina.
"A girl and a boy meet in Istanbul. Both have little money to live in a foreign city, and both are deaf. They spend time together doing what young people always do — carefree fun and intimacy. They are in love. But everything is not as rosy as it seems. She is from Ukraine, he is from Russia, and there is a war going on somewhere in their home," says the description of the film on the festivalʼs website.
- This is not the first time that Ukraine has turned to international festivals with a request to remove a Russian film from screening. In September, a similar situation occurred with the tape "Russians at War", in which the Russian military was whitewashed.
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