RKN banned the screening of the Yakut film “Aita” due to manifestations of nationalism

Roskomnadzor demanded that Russian video services remove the drama “Aita” by Yakut director Stepan Burnashev. The department explained that they saw in the film information that “contradicts the principles of the unity of the peoples of Russia.”

“The film demonstrates the inequality of individuals based on nationality: the positive aspects of heroes of one nationality are contrasted with the emphatically negative traits of heroes of another nationality,” they reported “Vedomosti” in the press service of the RKN.

Roskomnadzor added that the dissemination of such information by audiovisual services is unacceptable, and a corresponding notification has been sent to their owners. Top managers of two large video services told Vedomosti that they had already removed the film from their libraries.

According to the plot of the film, the daughter of a hunting inspector, Aita, tries to commit suicide, after which her mother finds a note in her pocket with the words “Afonya, I hate you.” That’s the name of the Russian policeman in the village who gave Aita a ride home the day before. Later it turns out that the person in question was a Yakut schoolboy from a neighboring village. Stepan Burnashev said that he sought to show “what the disunity of peoples can lead to.”

The Ministry of Culture issued a distribution certificate for the film “Aita” in February 2022. The film received a rating of 16+. In March 2023, the film was released in Russia and collected 26.4 million rubles, becoming the highest-grossing Yakut film. At the Winter Film Festival of auteur cinema, Aita won two awards – for best director and best actor (the award went to Innokenty Lukovetsev).

Lusine Balasyan