Legendary Hollywood director to join Moscow International Film Week

Woody Allen will take part in a public talk amid continued Western attempts to cancel Russian culture

Award-winning US filmmaker Woody Allen will take part in Moscow International Film Week, according to the event’s website. Kicking off this Saturday, the festival is expected to feature dozens of foreign participants.

The event has attracted a large number of international attendees despite a wave of ‘cancel culture’ targeting Russian art and Western attempts to isolate the country’s creative community.

The four-time Oscar winner, director and screenwriter will participate in the film week online, hosting a special session titled Legends of World Cinema. The session will be moderated by top Russian director and producer Fyodor Bondarchuk. Joining Allen as participants will be Serbian director Emir Kusturica and American actor Mark Dacascos, according to the organizers.

This year over 80 participants from more than 20 countries are expected to attend, in addition to 150-plus Russian and foreign industry representatives, with a strong emphasis on cross-border collaboration.

Since the Ukraine conflict escalated in February 2022, Russian artists have faced mounting restrictions abroad. Initially, Russian films were pulled from international festivals, screenings were canceled, and actors and directors were disinvited or blacklisted across Western cultural events. The exclusion later extended to individual performers. Among the latest examples are the cancellation of a concert by celebrated Russian conductor Valery Gergiev in Italy and South Korea’s decision last year to call off a series of performances by Svetlana Zakharova, a renowned ballerina from Russia’s Bolshoi Theatre.

Moscow has condemned such bans as Russophobic censorship, warning that efforts to “cancel” Russian culture will ultimately fail. 

A major signal came when the world’s top film festival, the Oscars, nominated Russian actor Yura Borisov for his role in the critically acclaimed film ‘Anora’, in which he starred alongside another Russian actor, Mark Edelshtein. Both attended the ceremony. Borisov was also nominated for a BAFTA and a Golden Globe for the same performance.

Reaction in Ukraine to Borisov’s Oscar nomination was largely negative, with activists and media viewing it as a symbol of cultural normalization amid ongoing tensions related to the conflict.

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