Zvyagintsev and Dostal left the Russian Oscar committee after Chukhrai

The self-will of Nikita Mikhalkov led to the collapse of the commission that nominates domestic films for the Oscar

Nikita Mikhalkov has an amazing gift of separation, which filmmakers have repeatedly seen. He once again secured this right for himself, declaring without any agreement with his colleagues that the film would not be nominated for the Oscar award from Russia this year.

This is the decision of the Presidium of the Film Academy of Russia, although there is no agreement among its ranks. As a result, film director Pavel Chukhrai left the post of chairman of the Russian Oscar Committee. Following him, Nikolai Dostal, Andrey Zvyagintsev, Alexander Kott left it. In the near future, other filmmakers will join them. They have already made it clear.

Andrey Zvyagintsev twice became an Oscar nominee with the films Leviathan in 2014 and Loveless in 2017, and now it was a matter of honor to react in this way to the situation.

A curious document of the Union of Cinematographers was published, in which the executive director of the National Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Boris Mashtaler, was denied permission to provide the conference room of the Cinema House subordinate to Mikhalkov for holding a meeting of the Oscar commission for the Oscar award. It is dated November 23rd. That is, then the first signal was already given, which turned out to be unnoticed.

The letter addressed to Mashtaler says: “The All-Russian public organization Union of Cinematographers of the Russian Federation does not support this initiative in the current political situation, including not providing the hall of the Central House of Cinematographers and broadcasting in Zoom format.”

The 95th Academy Awards Gala is scheduled for March 12, 2023. The shortlist will be announced on December 21 this year, and the nominees will be announced on January 24, 2023. Applications are accepted until November 15, 2022.

In all countries, the nomination procedure takes place every year, not always calmly, since filmmakers are emotional people, and they have different tastes, and they have their own interests. With us, this is becoming absurd. Lists of committee members were never made public like classified information. Rarely a year goes by without scandals. Almost always they are associated with the name of Nikita Mikhalkov and his unpopular actions. At one time, the head of the Oscar commission, Vladimir Menshov, was very nervous when conflicts arose, and made statements about his disagreement. And if in the first years he gave detailed comments on this matter, then later it came to the point that at the mention of the word “Oscar” Menshov hung up in his hearts.

His successor, Pavel Chukhrai, acted quite radically, writing an appeal to his colleagues on the committee at night that he was relinquishing his powers. But it seems that this only plays into Mikhalkov’s hands: the commission will collapse, and God bless it, they will write it off as the self-expression of its members.