The Ministry of Culture refused to issue a rental certificate for Sokurov’s “Fairy Tale”

Journalist Ksenia Sobchak published in Telegram Resolution of the Ministry of Culture refusing to issue a distribution certificate for Alexander Sokurov’s film “The Fairy Tale”. The document signed by the head of the Department of Cinematography and Digital Development of the Ministry of Culture Dmitry Davidenko is dated yesterday, October 13.

According to the resolution, the decision was made on the basis of subparagraph “g” of paragraph 18 of the rules for issuing, refusing to issue and revoking a film distribution certificate approved by the government in 2016. This paragraph lists the grounds for refusal to issue a certificate, but specifically in subparagraph “g” it says: “In other cases determined by federal laws.” That is, the specific reason for the ministry’s decision is unknown.

The day before, October 13, Alexander Sokurov reported, that the Ministry of Culture has banned the screening of “Fairy Tales” at the international film festival “Karo.Art”, which will be held tomorrow, October 15. The director admitted that “Fairy Tale” could have its distribution certificate taken away, and that an “unspoken ban” would be imposed on the rest of his films.

Alexander Sokurov himself said that “The Tale” is a fictional and fantastic story about the Second World War, and the main characters of the picture – Hitler, Stalin, Churchill and Mussolini – meet in a place similar to purgatory or hell. The Tale premiered at the Locarno Film Festival in 2022.

Details are in the Kommersant FM article. “The film festival was deprived of “Fairy Tales””.

Laura Keffer