Film director Andrei Konchalovsky rejects “overvalued” Oscar nomination

Russian-American film director Andrei Konchalovsky has refused to be shortlisted for an Oscar for his latest film The Postman’s White Nights, calling the Hollywood prize “overvalued”. In a letter published on Wednesday, Konchalovsky slammed the award as a symbol of western cultural dominance, announcing that his film, which recently won him the Silver Lion for best director at the Venice Film Festival, would not compete in the competition.

Konchalovsky wrote: “In recent years, I have quite sharply criticised the Hollywoodisation of the Russian film market and the pernicious influence of commercial American cinema on the formation of the taste and preferences of our audience. In light of this, competing for this Hollywood prize would be simply absurd.”

Konchalovsky added that the existence of the category for best foreign language film should “raise a laugh among film artists of the world” due to the fact that it “is a sign of the segregation of world cinema from the Anglophone world, and, in my opinion, the west’s outdated idea of its own cultural dominance”.

The son of author Sergei Mikhailkov and brother of prominent director Nikita Mikhalkov, Konchalovksy has earned a number of Russian and American film awards since his career began in the 1960s.

See also:

Andrei Konchalovsky film in Venice Film Festival line-up

Director Konchalovsky wins Silver Lion at Venice Film Festival