The Cannes International Film Festival together with a number of major Hollywood studios made the decision to remove Russia from their film events and markets, as a result of the military invasion in Ukraine. In the last hours, the organizers of the French contest decided to prohibit the entry of Russian delegations to its 75th edition, which will be carried out during the month of May.” With the serious crisis in which a part of Europe is in a state of war, the Cannes Film Festival wishes to extend its full support to the population of Ukraine and to those who are on the territory. Although in a modest way, we join our voices to those who oppose this unacceptable situation and denounce the attitude of Russia and its leaders,” the event officials said in a statement. In this regard, they added that “unless the assault war ends in conditions that satisfy the Ukrainian people,” the Russian delegations “will not be welcome” to the cinematographic meeting and noted that “the presence of any person linked to the Russian government will not be accepted.”
Exceptionally, the festival will receive filmmakers from the country individually, although so far it has not been clarified if their films will be allowed to be part of the Official Selection and other categories of the contest. “The Cannes Film Festival will always be at the service of artists and industry professionals who raise their voices to denounce violence, repression and injustices with the aim of defending peace and freedom,” they said.
On the other hand, according to international media, four major Hollywood studios also marked their position regarding the war conflict in Eastern Europe and decided to suspend the premieres of their films in Russia.According to a Disney spokesperson told Entertainment Weekly, the animated film “Red”, which had a scheduled release date of March 10, it will not be on the country’s billboard. “Given the invasion and the tragic humanitarian crisis, we are going to pause the release in Russian cinemas. We will make future business decisions based on the evolution of the situation. In the meantime, given the scale of the refugee crisis, we are working to provide urgent humanitarian aid,” he said. Meanwhile, on the eve of the premiere of the new “Batman” film, Warner Bros. indicated that the release of the film starring Robert Pattinson will be stopped until further notice. The decision was followed by Sony Pictures, with the release of “Morbius” in April, and by Paramount, with its upcoming titles “The Lost City” and “Sonic the Hedgehog 2.” In addition, some european distribution and production firms such as BBC Studios, All3Media and ITV Studios made a momentary determination to terminate their contracts and commercial exchanges with Russia.
