American director Woody Allen has responded to criticism from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry over his performance at the Moscow Film Festival. He says he "doesnʼt think stopping artistic conversations is a good way to help".
He told The Guardian about this.
“When it comes to the conflict in Ukraine, I firmly believe that Vladimir Putin is absolutely wrong. The war he has caused is terrible. But no matter what politicians do, I don’t think stopping artistic conversations is ever a good way to help,” the American director said.
What preceded
American director Woody Allen took part in the session "Legends of World Cinema". It took place on August 24 as part of the Moscow International Film Week.
He spoke online via video link. The meeting with him was conducted by Russian director Fyodor Bondarchuk, a propagandist and supporter of Vladimir Putin.
During the lecture, Woody Allen spoke about world cinema, his own directing, and the role of artificial intelligence in cinema. The director said that he had always loved Russian cinema. At the same time, he said that he had not yet received any offers to shoot a film in Russia. However, if they had, he would “sit down and think about what a script about how good you feel in Moscow and St. Petersburg could be”.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry condemned Allenʼs participation in the Moscow International Film Week and called it a disgrace and an insult to the victims of Ukrainian actors and filmmakers who were killed or injured by Russian war criminals in their ongoing war against Ukraine.
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