Russian filmmakers Alexander Sokurov and Alexey Fedorchenko are among the latest to speak out in public in support of their Ukrainian colleague Oleg Sentsov.
“The story about Sentsov’s arrest appeared from the very beginning to be rather fantastic,” Sokurov said in a statement for the Russian discussion forum Snob.
“The investigating organs have somewhat exaggerated the ability of film directors for criminal political activities.”
The director, whose latest film Francofonia will have its world premiere in Venice next month, said he was “confident” that there wasn’t any extremism in Sentsov’s actions and “nothing more extremist than civil protest”.
Meanwhile, Alexey Fedorchenko (Angels of the Revolution) declared that “protecting the freedom of innocently accused people is not something that only filmmakers must do, but all the inhabitants of our country”.
Alexey German Jr, whose last feature Under Electric Clouds screened at the Berlinale in February, described what was now happening to Oleg Sentsov as “a great tragedy”.
“A life, hope, the whole world of a human being, artist, director is being destroyed,“ he said, adding that “the punishment of Sentsov will hardly result in anything: it is contraproductive and inhuman.”
“We are living in a pre-war era, in a state of constant preparedness for war, and who and when in such moments are going to listen to the opinion of those active in culture?“ German Jr. asked. „It is the logic of blood. It is the tragedy of escalation when every subsequent step becomes crueller and more bloody than the previous one.“
Director Vladimir Mirzoev (Boris Godunov) pointed out in his statement that „the government knows perfectly well what it is doing and what goals it is pursuing. It makes no sense at all to appeal to the court: these people are simply functioniaries, they are carrying out the decisions of higher authorities. So I don’t really know to whom our voices should be addressed.“
Fedorchenko also feared “the demands of even the most illustrious directors will hardly play any kind of role here. But one has to do something, and can’t just sit with one’s arms folded. Albeit just collecting signatures.”
Meanwhile, Askold Kurov, who has been working with the Kiev-based filmmaker Andriy Lytynenko on the making of the documentary Release Oleg Sentsov, struck a more positive note by stressing the importance of keeping the case of Oleg Sentsov and Alexander Kolchenko in the public eye.
“Sooner or later, both the public speeches and appeals will work. There will come a time when the authorities will no longer be able to keep them as hostages,“ Kurov said.
At the weekend, Leviathan director Andrey Zvyagintsev added his voice to a growing chorus of protest within the Russian filmmaking community by writing an article for Novaya Gazeta.
“It became very clear to me that if Sentsov was Russian and spoke of Russia’s territorial integrity, he would have received the status of a hero, the status of being “one of theirs”, Zvyagintsev wrote.
Moreover, the Russian Filmmakers Union Kinosoyuz sent an open letter to Mikhail Fedotov, an adviser to President Putin and the Chairman of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, calling on him to do everything in his powers to „guarantee [Sentsov’s] rights to objective and legal investigations and trial.“
In addition, the letter – which was signed by such directors as Alexey Popogrebsky, Vitaly Mansky, Boris Khlebnikov and Andrey Proshkin – asked Fedotov to initiate investigations into the claims of torture suffered by Sentsov and the activist Gennady Afanasiev during their detention.
Filmmakers Maria Razbezhkina, Anna Melikyan, and Vasily Sigarev and producers Artem Vasiliev, Andrey Deryabin are among many directors, screenwriters, producers and actors who have since added their names to Kinosoyuz’s petition to Fedotov.
The Polish Film Academy has also sent another letter to President Putin calling for Sentsov’s release and rehabilitation, and 90 members of the Czech Film & Television Academy have joined the international appeal launched by the European Film Academy.
Sentence on Sentsov and Kolchenko is due to be passed tomorrow (Aug 25) by the military court in Rostov-on-Don.
EFA Deputy Chairman, Mike Downey, who has been part of a campaign to free Sentsov, said: “Whatever the result of tomorrow’s sentencing is, the European Film Academy will never give up the fight to free Oleg Sentsov.
“It’s encouraging that since Oleg’s speech about cowardice and betrayal in court last week, more and more Russian film directors are signing petitions for his defence and coming out in support of him for which we are most grateful.
“In particular Andrei Zviagintsev who has read all 516 pages of the evidence and we share his belief that having studied all available materials of the case and we cannot see any direct evidence of guilt on the part of Oleg Sentsov.”
As Ukraine celebrates the 24th anniversary of its independence from the former Soviet Union today (Monday), the “Ukrainians in Berlin” group will feature Sentsov in a public reading of works from 24 Ukrainian writers in front the German capital’s Brandenburg Gate this afternoon.
The event will include extracts from Sentsov’s theatre play, Numbers, to draw attention to his fate as well as those of other Ukrainians detained in Russia.
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