Cinemas in St. Petersburg refused to show the films of the director invited to the MIFF

Movie theaters in St. Petersburg refused to hold a large retrospective of the films of the Soviet and Russian director, People's Artist of Russia Alexander Sokurov for his anniversary. This was announced in her telegram channel by director Lyubov Arkus.

"Aurora, Rodina, and others refused us. So there will be no retrospective," she wrote.

Arkus added that there will only be "a large detailed significantly updated book about him and a modest banquet in the editorial office."

The director stressed that over the past four years in Russia was not given a rental certificate to any of Sokurov's films.

"He's on some kind of blacklist that I'm on," Arkus continued.

According to her, this list was compiled neither on the initiative of the Ministry of Culture of Russia, nor on the initiative of the country's President Vladimir Putin.

"He just respects Sokurov, although he disagrees with him in many ways," the director believes.

At the same time, she noted that right now Sokurov received an invitation from the director and actor, People's Artist of the RSFSR Nikita Mikhalkov.

"He writes to Sokurov about awarding him a high award at the MIFF (Moscow International Film Festival) for his services to world cinema," explained Arkus, to the publication she attached a screenshot of the invitation signed by Mikhalkov.

She thanked Mikhalkov for his good intentions and for understanding the scale of Sokurov's personality in art.

It should be noted that Sokurov will celebrate his 75th birthday on June 14 this year.

Earlier it became known that his film "The director's Notebook" will be shown at the MIFF in a special program. Sokurov himself said that he did not make any effort to have his painting shown as part of the festival, it was just a great desire of the organizers.

As reported by EADaily, in October last year, the Ministry of Culture did not issue a rental certificate to the documentary film Arkus "Parents are here nearby" about parents of people with autism. In July 2024, the documentary film Arkus "Balabanov. The bell tower. Requiem" was awarded the Russian film award "Nika" in the category "Best non-fiction film".