US director Woody Allen has responded to criticism, particularly from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, over his participation in the Moscow International Film Week.
The director commented on the situation in a conversation with The Guardian. “Regarding the conflict in Ukraine, I firmly believe that Vladimir Putin is completely wrong. The war he caused is terrible. But regardless of what politicians have done, I don’t think stopping artistic dialogues is a good way to help,” he said.
On 24 August, 89-year-old Woody Allen, a multiple Oscar winner, spoke via video link at the session “Legends of World Cinema” as part of Moscow Film Week. The meeting was moderated by director Fyodor Bondarchuk, who has previously voiced his support for Russian leader Putin and the Russian authorities.
Allen also said that he has always enjoyed Russian cinema and that he wouldn’t mind travelling to Russia. He did not speak about Russia’s war against Ukraine or politics.
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry later called Allen’s actions “a disgrace and an insult to the sacrifice of Ukrainian actors and filmmakers who were killed or injured by Russian war criminals during Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.”
“By participating in a festival that unites Putin’s supporters and mouthpieces, Allen is knowingly turning a blind eye to the atrocities that Russia has been committing in Ukraine every day for 11 years now,” the statement released on 25 August said.
Woody Allen made his film debut in the 1960s and has directed and written dozens of films, many of them award-winning.