- Title: Russian cinema defies official ban to screen Stalin satire movie
- Date: 25th January 2018
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (JANUARY 25, 2018) (REUTERS) PEOPLE COMING OUT OF CINEMA HALL AFTER VIEWING 'THE DEATH OF STALIN' FILM (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) PENSIONER DINA VORONOVA, SAYING: "I didn't laugh, no. There were certain moments that were funny, but I didn't laugh the same. I cannot laugh at it because it is my life." PEOPLE IN HALLWAY OF CINEMA (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) PENSIONER ZAKIR BUTAYEV, SAYING: "Very talented acting, talented production and everything is shown quite reasonably. There is nothing offensive there. It is sad that it was people from outside who looked at us that way and not us. We had to make such a film ourselves."
- Embargoed: 8th February 2018 19:00
- Keywords: Russia film premiere banned Death of Stalin satirical film Armando Iannucci Russian culture ministry withdraws license
- Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA / UNIDENTIFIED FILM LOCATIONS
- City: MOSCOW, RUSSIA / UNIDENTIFIED FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA0047ZM2VYF
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A Russian art house cinema screened satirical film 'The Death of Stalin' to a packed house on Thursday (January 25), despite the Russian culture ministry cancelling the movie's release on the grounds that it mocks the country's Soviet past.
Asked about the screening at Moscow's Pioneer cinema, the culture ministry, which earlier this week withdrew a licence for the movie's general release, said in a statement that anyone defying its ban would be held legally accountable for their actions. Staff at the cinema declined to comment.
At an afternoon screening, the roughly 80 seats in the cinema's auditorium were taken, and some audience members had to sit on the floor, according to a Reuters reporter who was at the movie theatre.
The film, the work of Scottish director Armando Iannucci, portrays back-stabbing and in-fighting among Soviet dictator Josef Stalin's closest allies as they vie for power immediately after his 1953 death.
One of the audience members, 80-year-old pensioner Dina Voronova, said she was curious about the film because she still remembered how it happened in real life. After screening she said she could not laugh even during funny moments of the film, because the memories about Stalin times were still too painful.
Stalin was repudiated by the Soviet Union after his death. He is recognised as responsible for the deaths of millions, from policies that included the forced collectivisation of farms that caused famine, and from a succession of purges that saw mass executions and imprisonment at an archipelago of camps.
But Stalin's leadership during World War Two, when the Red Army beat back a German occupation, is still associated by many Russians with the country's greatest achievements.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, running for re-election in March, has called Stalin "a complex figure" and said attempts to demonise him were a ploy to attack Russia.
Vladimir Medinsky, the culture minister, said on Tuesday his ministry had received a number of complaints about the film which had prompted him to withdraw its general release license. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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