The Ministry of Culture of Russia banned the screening of Alexander Sokurov’s film “Fairytale”.

The Ministry of Culture of Russia banned the screening of the film by director Alexander Sokurov “Fairytale” at the international festival KARO.Art. Sokurov reported this in his Telegram channel.

According to the director, he expects that “Skazke” will be refused a rental certificate, and an unspoken ban will be imposed on the showing of his previous works. Sokurov clarified that he did not know why the film was taken off the air.

“There are big problems ahead in life – like in Soviet times, when all my works were forbidden to be shown. The time of my life has stopped again. I am not asking for help: as before, no one will be able to help me. I am not just protesting against censorship – I am declaring a protest against the violation of my constitutional right to free communication of my works with compatriots,” the director writes.

The premiere of “Fairy Tales” took place on August 6, 2023 at the Locarno Film Festival. Sokurov declared that this picture would be his last. The main characters of “Fairy Tales” are Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and Winston Churchill, who meet in hell. To depict these characters, Sokurov used footage from the documentary chronicle and texts of their real things.

According to Sokurov, the film was shot without the participation of Russian actors and the involvement of Russian financing.

The director refused to show the film at the Cannes Film Festival in 2022. At the same time, the organizers of the festival declared that they would not accept the Russian delegation because of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, but the mass media, citing sources, reported that Sokurov and some other directors received a personal invitation to the festival “regardless of the political situation.”