“We must be happy!”: member of the Oscar committee Popov explained the termination of his work

The road to the West is closed for any Russian film with government funding

Russian producer, director and screenwriter Fyodor Popov commented to MK on the news about the cessation of the activities of the Oscar Committee, of which the publication’s interlocutor had been a member for many years. Fyodor Maksimovich believes that Western countries are to blame for the current situation, not Russia.

– This is not our situation. There is a ban on Russian culture – we are not welcome there. We didn’t drive Hollywood out of our markets, they left themselves. And it is not we who do not allow Russian cinema into the West – it is us who are not allowed.

– Is there a way out of this impasse?

– There is no way out except from the coffin. So, I think there is a way out, but it is connected with politics. There is a hybrid war, a “cold war”, and our culture is being persecuted. And there is only one way out – stopping this persecution, “cooling down” the degree of Russophobia. If this happens, all the members of the Oscar nomination committee will happily get together – this is my opinion – and begin to argue with the same zeal and nominate someone for this film award.

– In the USA and Europe, do they not accept all Russian films at all, or are they divided into “pro-government” and, relatively speaking, “opposition”?

– For any film that is produced with the support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation (and in our country 90-95% are produced with state support), the road to foreign festivals (category “A”, at least) is closed. This is simply a fact – I know this from foreign colleagues who are not susceptible to Russophobia.

There are, of course, simpler film festivals, you can “get into” them, but if there was government support, then no. And if they took it out with private money, there are chances.

– Can Russia, in principle, do without the Oscars? Do we need it as much as they say and write about it?

– Of course, it can be done. I don’t understand my colleagues who are worried that Hollywood is gone. You should be happy!

We couldn’t distribute our films, because 70, or even 90 percent of the screen and film distribution in different years was occupied by foreign products. Now there is no competition in this sense, you need to work, strive to achieve the level of cinema that was in the USSR. I don’t “drown” for the Soviet Union, believe me, a lot of wonderful things happened (after its collapse – I.V.), freedom and so on. But freedom worked for Hollywood. And cinema is not only economics, but ideology and culture. You know, as they say: “modern youth have a very highly developed western hemisphere of the brain.”

So we can easily do without Hollywood; I would like them to fight for participation in our film awards, as we are fighting.

We need to raise our film industry just like the auto industry and the aviation industry. This is the main thing!