The film by Russian director Borys Guts "Deaf Lovers" will not be removed from the main program of the Tallinn Film Festival "Dark Nights" (PÖFF), despite the appeals of the State Agency of Ukraine for Cinema and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
This is reported by ERR.
After the appeal of Ukrainian filmmakers, the festival removed "Deaf Lovers" from the special selection, but the film was left in the main competition program, so it will be shown to the audience at the festival.
"The film will be shown at PÖFF because we did not choose it by chance — it is in the program because it is artistically and content-wise very sharp and gives an opportunity to talk about current topics," said PÖFF director Tiina Lokk.
In her opinion, if the festival succumbs to the permanent ban of certain films, it will lose its immunity to propaganda.
The world premiere of "Deaf Lovers" will take place at PÖFF. According to Locke, no one has seen the film yet, but a huge smear campaign has already been launched around it.
"This film is under very fierce attack from Russian oppositionists, Belarusians and Ukrainians, who have, of course, very different points of view, and this film can also be interpreted very differently, thatʼs its charm," she emphasized.
The festival also sent out an appeal to the public, stressing that "Deaf Lovers" "is not a Russian film, as its author Boris Huts left Russia after the outbreak of full-scale war and lived as a refugee in various European countries, and now lives in Serbia." For example, he repeatedly spoke out against the war started by Russia and the Putin regime.
“Deaf Lovers” premieres at PÖFF on Sunday, November 17 at 8:30 p.m.
What a movie
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, 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.
The day before, the State Cinema called on the organizers of the film festival to exclude the film from the festivalʼs main program.
"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 emphasized.
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 the planet of Parajanov", "Peaceful people", "Porcelain war", "Editorial", "You are Cosmos" and others.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine reacted to the State Cinema.
"War crimes cannot be justified. Another attempt to humanize Russia as an aggressor and whitewash it with the help of culture as a tool is disappointing," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote.
- This is not the first time that Ukraine has asked international festivals 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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