The European Union has restored the film festival in Russia

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Galarag also added that the representative office plans to continue holding events on the territory of the Russian Federation. But there is little chance that European cultural figures will be able to visit them.

Film festival poster. Photo: press service of the EU Representation in Russia

“In these difficult times, this topic seems to be the most relevant. Now it is especially important to find new opportunities for mutual understanding. Kindness, family, one and only planet, common history and common future – these are our main topics based on universal human values. It seems extremely valuable to continue to remind about them now with the help of brave, honest, dramatic, funny, human – very different cinema”said a representative of the EU Embassy.

The European film festival has been held for more than 15 years. The representative of the European Union in Russia is the organizer.

This year, the program includes 19 films from the countries of the European Union, including Belgium, France, Germany, the Czech Republic, Spain and Italy. Also mentioned are two films produced in Russia in cooperation with European film studios. There are no online meetings and discussions with tape representatives, as happened during the Festival in previous years.

More about cinema in Russia

The activities of the film industry and festivals in the Russian Federation have come to nothing since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine. International festivals are canceled en masse, as well as Russian events.

In March 2022, the producer and president of the international film festival “Kinotavr” Oleksandr Rodnyansky announced that the event would be postponed indefinitely. Since then, the future of the festival remains unknown, the project has been put on hold for now.

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“I’ll be honest – how can we talk about festivals when the country is waging an aggressive war”, Rodnyanskyi wrote.

Moreover, a number of major Hollywood film companies, such as Universal, Sony and Paramount, refuse to work in the Russian market. Disney stopped licensing content on the territory of the Russian Federation, and also announced the exit of all business from the country. The company also suspended the distribution of its films.

Warner Bros also withdrew from Russia, banning the broadcast of its films on Russian TV channels. Among the company’s most popular products are the Harry Potter film series, DC films, and others.

However, this has not stopped certain cinemas from showing unlicensed content. The highest-grossing film of the Warner Bros. company “Barbie” was released despite the lack of rights to show the tape.