He replied that this was not within his authority
Photo: Sokurov’s Telegram channel
Film director Alexander Sokurov published an open letter on his 75th birthday addressed to Nikita Mikhalkov, chairman of the board of the Russian Filmmakers’ Union, asking him to help remove censorship restrictions from a number of films in Russia.
What the letter said. The letter was dated April 18. Sokurov said he had handed it to Mikhalkov during the Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF), but received no reply. That is why the director decided to publish the text.
He said that Mikhalkov is “one of the leaders of the Russian state” who “cannot but bear responsibility for the actions of state bodies and their consequences.”
According to the director, in recent years he and his colleagues have faced “systematic censorship bans that rule out the possibility of continued professional development.” He also added that “gradually, step by step, Mikhalkov’s competitors are being eliminated.”
Sokurov published a list of 37 films that were barred from distribution in Russia. It included Sokurov’s own films “The Sun,” “Fairytale,” and “Russian Ark,” as well as Ilya Khrzhanovsky’s “DAU,” Natalya Merkulova’s “Captain Volkonogov Escaped,” Stepan Burnashev’s “Aita,” Viktor Ginzburg’s “Empire V,” Rezo Gigineishvili’s “Patient No. 1,” and other works. He called on Mikhalkov to help lift censorship.
“No one in Russia has such powerful capabilities as you do. If you consider it possible to help your, our colleagues — mainly young ones — to unblock these bans and restore the constitutional rights of our talented compatriots, I would be very grateful to you,” Sokurov said.
What Mikhalkov replied. Mikhalkov’s response was published on his Telegram channel the same day. The director congratulated Sokurov on his anniversary and said he had not replied to the first letter because Sokurov “honestly admitted himself that he did not expect an answer.”
Mikhalkov said he is not “one of the leaders of the state” and suggested that Sokurov appeal to the competent authorities with a request to help lift the bans.
“I hope that his concern will be heard and that he will receive an answer. And that now he will be eagerly waiting for that answer,” Mikhalkov’s response said.