The Parliament of Yakutia called for an expert assessment of the ban on the film “Aita”

Chairman of the Standing Committee on Culture and Media of the State Assembly of Yakutia Viktor Gubarev called for an expert assessment of the ban on Stepan Burnashev’s film “Aita” in order to then make a “more balanced” decision. According to him, the ban of the film by Roskomnadzor and the revocation of the distribution certificate by the Ministry of Culture is an “alarming sign” not only for Yakut, but also for all regional cinema, which has just begun to develop.

“Obviously this is a misunderstanding and the message of the film is exactly the opposite of what it is accused of. It is necessary to send a request to the Ministry of Culture and Roskomnadzor with a request to convene an expert council of qualified specialists: filmmakers and film experts, in order to make a more informed decision on this film,” he told TASS.

September 25 Ministry of Culture recalled distribution certificate for the film, which was issued in February 2022. Before this Roskomnadzor demanded remove “Aita” from Russian video services, since the department found manifestations of nationalism in it. In the story, residents of a Yakut village decide to carry out lynching of a Russian policeman, who is suspected of driving a local schoolgirl to suicide. The author of the film, Stepan Burnashev, stated that with his film he sought to show “what the disunity of peoples can lead to.” In March 2023, the film was released in Russia and collected 26.4 million rubles, becoming the highest-grossing Yakut film.

Polina Motyzlevskaya