Vilnius film festival’s boycott of Russian cinema sparks debate

Lithuania’s most prestigious film festival has cancelled all Russian film screenings and will promote Ukrainian cinema. Algirdas Ramaska, Vilnius film festival’s chief executive officer, told Al Jazeera that the festival has removed all five Russian films from the programme – regardless of the directors’ stances on the war and Russian President Vladimir Putin – in response to the call from the Ukrainian film industry. “The boycott shows all Russian people that what’s happening isn’t OK and that this war is against their whole country, against their own citizens.” On 23 March, the so-called “Day Zero”, the festival organised a Ukrainian Cinema Day and screened five films from the war-torn country: Mariupolis, The Distant Barking of Dogs, Atlantis, Bad Roads, and My Thoughts Are Silent. “But if we want Russian imperial ambitions in Central and Eastern Europe to stop, we will also have to support the opposition inside of Russia.” Meanwhile, Bernd Buder, programme director at Cottbus film festival, said he can “emotionally understand the boycott” but disagreed with punishing filmmakers that are critical of Putin. “At the same time, we think it is important to keep in touch with Russian filmmakers who are critical of their country, as critical as they can be, and we reserve the right to show their films and discuss them with the audience.” Bulgarian film critic Mariana Hristova praised Vilnius festival’s focus on Ukrainian cinema but worries cultural boycotts will harm artists more than the state.