Belarusians Not Allowed to Enter Moscow :: Charter'97 :: News

Belarusian film “Occupation. Miracle play”, telling about a life of partisans during the Great Patriotic War, could have a good fortune. Selectors of the Moscow Film festival have chosen it for the competition program of dйbuts “Perspective”. But the image of a partisan, created by the filmmaker Andrei Kudzinenka, was not approved of by Belarusian bureaucrats. The Ministry of Culture banned the demonstration of the film at the territory of Belarus. And now official Minsk makes an attempt to give the film to get to Moscow.

When the film was ready and was displayed to journalists, the state-run Belarusian media called it a malicious misrepresentation of the partisan movement theme. However, at the film contest in Rotterdam it was highly appreciated by viewers and critics. Three novellas included in the film are a disputable, but innovative and unusual interpretation of the partisan movement in Belarus. It is a daring attempt to create new cinema art in Belarus, which would differ from the Soviet production.

But the Ministry of Culture of Belarus invalidated the license for demonstrating this film. Moreover, Minsk is set to overwhelm the Russian side with the letters, petitions and faxes with demands to ban the film “Occupation” in Russia.

So far the actions of the Belarusian officials have not prevented the selectors of the Moscow International Film Festival to include the film into the competition program of dйbuts. The problem is, that the author has to find $30,000 to change the film format, as it is a digital one, while it should be filmed on a tape. At the same time in the last few days the film producer had several conversations with Belarusian authorities, and more than once they hinted that they are going to do their best to impede the film’s distribution in Russia.