Anger in Ukraine after screening of film Russians at War

Ukrainian political and cultural figures expressed their anger on Friday after a documentary by a Russian-Canadian director giving voice to Russian soldiers was presented out of competition at the Venice Film Festival, which was denounced as being “Russian propaganda”.

Russian-Canadian director Anastasia Trofimova presented in Venice Russians at War (“Russians at War”) after spending several months on the Ukrainian front in a Russian battalion, collecting testimonies from soldiers from which she made a documentary. In a message published on social networks, the head of the presidential administration Andrii Yermak described “ashamed” the fact that what he called “film of propaganda » was screened in Venice. He felt that the “personalities of Russian culture” were not allowed to “working in the civilized world”.

“Justifying” the actions of the Russian army

Daria Zarivna, a Ukrainian activist and advisor to Andriy Yermak, assured that the film seeks to “justify” the actions of the Russian army, and accused Ms Trofimova of “to cover up war crimes” which are attributed to Moscow’s forces in Ukraine.

Producer Daria Bassel, who said she saw the film at the Venice festival, said it was a “perfect example of pure Russian propaganda” in which the soldiers take up the Kremlin’s argument to justify the invasion of Ukraine. According to her website, Anastasia Trofimova has previously made several documentaries in Syria, Iraq, Congo, notably for the Russian state channel RT, sanctioned in the European Union and the United States.

Ukrainian filmmaker Iryna Tsilyk compared it to “vomit” Anastasia Trofimova’s ambition to promote a message of peace through her documentary. She also criticized the organizers of the Venice Film Festival for choosing to present “something that smells so bad”.