Cannes: Ukrainian filmmakers thow light on Russian war; 'Our world has completely changed'

The prestigious Cannes Film Festival 2022 kickstarted on May 17 and several filmmakers and actors from across the globe arrived to attend the much-awaited event. Several Ukrainian filmmakers and producers including Aleksandra Kostina, Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, Maksym Nakonechnyi and others also arrived in France to promote their films and attend the festival. They also spoke up about the ongoing Russian invasion of their country and shed light on the current situation in Ukraine.

Ukrainian filmmakers and producers speak about Russian war at Cannes 2022

Aleksandra Kostina spoke to Deadline at the Cannes Film Festival and looked at a group of delegates from the event walking on the beach as she mentioned it was 'hard to understand' how life continued to go on around for the rest as Ukraine fights for its country.

She said, "It’s hard to understand how life just continues around the rest of the world when our world has completely changed and will never be the same again. It’s very surreal."

Pamfir Director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk also spoke about his life as a Ukrainian and mentioned that although it was great to be at the film festival, it did not represent his 'reality'. He mentioned that for him, his reality is that his country is currently fighting an 'awful war' and also mentioned how he has been sleeping better ever since he has been in France. He told the publication, "I can’t hear the fighting planes and the air raids. It’s safe here in Cannes. When my alarm on my phone goes off it’s not the alarm we get on our phones in Ukraine warning citizens of an air raid." Maksym Nakonechnyi, who is a writer who attended the film festival from Ukraine mentioned that being at the Cannes 2022 felt like a 'parallel universe' amid the Russian invasion.

Apart from Ukrainians, others at the festival have been speaking up in solidarity with the war-torn country. The European Film Academy President, Agnieszka Holland also recently slammed the film festival for welcoming the film Tchaikovsky’s Wife, by a Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov amid the war.

According to Variety, she said, "If it were up to me, I would not include Russian films in the official programme of the festival – even if Kirill Serebrennikov is such a talented artist. Unfortunately, my bad feelings were confirmed by his words. He used [the film’s festival press conference] to praise a Russian oligarch [the film’s funder, sanctioned billionaire Roman Abramovich] and compare the tragedy of Russian soldiers to Ukrainian defenders. I would not give him such a chance at this very moment."

Image: AP