Ukraine to reconsider Russian film ban

Ukraine’s National Council of Television and Radio Broadcasting is set to reconsider recent bans on the broadcast of Russian films in the country.

This development follows a request sent by Council head Yuri Artemenko to the Minister for Culture and Deputy Prime Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Vyacheslav Kyrylenko, about the need to review the list of banned films.

According to Mr Artemenko, the list of banned films is based on the list of actors prohibited from entering Ukraine, as a result of which a number of Ukrainian and Soviet productions are affected by the ban. The Council head spoke up for such films as Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (1980, dir. Vladimir Menshov), Afonya (1975, dir. Georgiy Daneliya), and The Garage (1979, dir. Eldar Ryazanov), among other Soviet classics.

Mr Artemenko’s appeal is supported by head of the Ukrainian Security Service Vasily Gritsak, who has called for a review of the approach to Russian films in Ukraine.

On 29 March Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, voted to ban broadcasting all Russian films produced or shown for the first time from 1 January 2014. In addition, parliamentarians voted to extend the ban to Russian films seen as popularising law enforcement agencies and the military, regardless of release date.

Since August 2014 more than 400 Russian films and TV series have been banned from broadcast in Ukraine.

Source: Lenta (in Russian)