Oscar-winning director Woody Allen has defended his appearance at a Moscow film festival following sturdy criticism from the Ukrainian authorities.
“When it comes to the conflict in Ukraine, I believe strongly that Vladimir Putin is totally in the wrong. The war he has caused is appalling,” stated Allen in a press release despatched to NCS by his assistant on Monday.
“But, whatever politicians have done, I don’t feel cutting off artistic conversations is ever a good way to help.”
Allen’s assertion got here after the Ukrainian authorities slammed his choice to look as a headline visitor at the occasion at the weekend.
“Woody Allen’s participation in the Moscow International Film Week is a disgrace and an insult to the sacrifice of Ukrainian actors and filmmakers who have been killed or injured by Russian war criminals in their ongoing war against Ukraine,” stated Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release earlier Monday.
The Moscow International Film Week is sponsored by Russian state media, state-owned corporations and the Moscow City Government.
A photograph shared on the festival’s official telegram channel exhibits the 89-year-old film maker collaborating in a session through video hyperlink, in dialog with Russian director Fyodor Bondarchuk, who’s a Putin ally and has publicly supported Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to the festival’s press service, Allen stated he preferred Russian cinema, mentioning the Soviet model of “War and Peace” that was directed by Sergei Bondarchuk, Fyodor Bondarchuk’s father.
Russian state media reported that throughout the session Allen stated that, whereas he has no plans to make a film in Russia, he has “only good feelings for Moscow and St Petersburg.”
And Russian envoy Kirill Dmitriev claimed that Allen’s appearance at the festival proved “Russia isn’t isolated.”
“Trying to cancel Woody Allen over a video call at the Moscow International Film Festival misses the point: Russia isn’t isolated – and art should build bridges, not burn them,” Dmitriev wrote in a put up on X.