PFI joins the boycott of Russian cinematography

Following the call of members of the Ukrainian Film Academy to boycott Russian cinematography, we would like to inform you that the Polish Film Institute joins this action with all firmness of purpose.

As the Academy rightly points out in its petition to film institutions, at a time when political and economic sanctions are being imposed on the Russian Federation, we cannot remain consistent with their activity in the field of culture.

In the present circumstances, we want to assure the members of the Ukrainian Film Academy and the entire Ukrainian society of our solidarity in this matter as well. One cannot allow a situation in which an aggressor attacking a democratic state has the right to submit his films for participation in international festivals and to participate in cultural events without any consequences.

The Ukrainian Film Academy encourages individual institutions to take specific actions:

– the Council of Europe to exclude Russia from Eurimages and to terminate its co-production agreements with it, and to exclude the Russian Federation from the European Convention on Film Co-production;

– the International Federation of Film Producers’ Associations (FIAPF) to remove the FIAPF accreditation from the International Film Festival in Moscow;

– producers to terminate their cooperation with business entities of the Russian Federation and not to transfer intellectual property rights to films on the territory of the Russian Federation;

– distributors not to license the distribution of films in the territory of Russia;

– European Audiovisual Production Association and Commercial Film Producers of Europe to cease all cooperation of association members with producers supporting aggression in Ukraine;

UFA also asks not to admit films produced by or in co-production with the Russian Federation from the festival programs.

We encourage all film institutions in Poland, Europe and the world to join the action and sign this petition.

Radosław Śmigulski