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

Roskomnadzor demanded that video services ban the broadcast of a drama called “Aita,” created by Yakut director Stepan Burnashev. According to the supervisory authority, the film contains information that “contradicts the principles of the unity of the peoples of Russia.”

In particular, department officials told Vedomosti that the film demonstrates inequality between characters of different nationalities. The positive traits of some characters are contrasted with the pronounced negative traits of characters of another nationality.

Roskomnadzor emphasized that the dissemination of such information through audiovisual services is unacceptable. A corresponding notification was sent to the owners of video services, and, according to top managers of two large video services, they have already complied with the requirement and removed the film from their libraries.

The film “Aita” tells the story of a hunting inspector’s daughter who suddenly tries to commit suicide. In her pocket they find a note with mysterious words: “Afonya, I hate you.” Afonya is a Russian policeman who gave Aita a ride home the day before. Later it turns out that their village turned out to be a place where the destinies of representatives of different nationalities were intertwined, including a Yakut schoolboy. Director Stepan Burnashev claims that his goal was to show what the disunity of peoples can lead to.

Let us recall that the Russian Ministry of Culture issued a distribution certificate for the film “Aita” back in February 2022, and the film received a rating of 16+. In March 2023, the film was released in Russia and collected an impressive amount of 26.4 million rubles, becoming the highest-grossing Yakut film.