Some summary justifications. After the controversy linked to the participation of Woody Allen’s visioconference at the Moscow International Film Festival this Sunday, the American filmmaker wanted to defend his right to attend an event in the cinema in Russia, in a statement sent to The Associated Press on Monday.
“Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, I am convinced that Vladimir Putin is completely wrong. The war that caused is frightening, he assured the Oscar winning director. But, regardless of politicians, I do not think that shortening artistic conversations is a good way to help.”
“It’s a shame”
A statement that occurs a few hours after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine considered that this collaboration constituted “a penalty and an insult to the sacrifice of Ukrainian actors and filmmakers who were killed or wounded by Russian war criminals.”
Woody Allen “chooses to observe the atrocities that Russia is committed to Ukraine,” said the ministry, believing that culture should never “be used to bleach crimes.”
In this sense, Ukraine, which Russia attacked in February 2022, demanded the total isolation of the country on the international scene, even in the fields of culture and sport. Therefore, kyiv systematically denounces the participation of Western personalities in events in Russia, which has been weird since the beginning of the war.
“Russia is not isolated”
The conference in which Woody Allen participated this weekend was moderated by the Russian director Fiodor Bondartchouk, ally of Vladimir Putin, who publicly supported the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, and son of Sergei Bondartchouk, director of the Soviet version of War and peace.
During this session, Woody Allen, already repudiated by a large part of the film industry due to accusations of sexual assault against his adoptive daughter, said he would consider shooting in Russia if he was proposed, according to the state agency RIA Novosti.
“If there were such proposals, I tried and I would think about a scenario on the well -being that can be felt in Moscow and St. Petersburg,” he said. According to Ria Novosti, the American filmmaker of Manhattan EITHER Annie Hall He also mentioned a “not very pleasant” trip to the time of the Soviet Union, and added that, since “everything had changed, Russia has become wonderful.”
After the controversy, Vladimir Putin’s special economic emissary, Kirill Dmitriev, said in X the presence of Woody Allen at the festival showed that “Russia was not isolated.”
“Trying to prohibit Woody Allen after a video call in the International Moscow Film Week strange the essential: Russia is not isolated, and art should build bridges, not burn them.” The Festival is sponsored by the Russian state media, public companies and the government of the city of Moscow.
Source: BFM TV
