Ukraine's State Film Agency has urged the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (POFF) to remove the Russian film "Deaf Lovers" from its main programming, protesting the film's depiction of relations between Russians and Ukrainians, the agency announced on Nov. 12.
The film, directed by Russian filmmaker Boris Guts, portrays a romantic relationship between two hearing impaired individuals — a female Ukrainian refugee and a Russian man — who met in Istanbul amid Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Critics of the film argue that the film's portrayal of a love affair between a Russian and a Ukrainian are heavily misaligned with the realities faced by Ukrainian women at the hands of Russian soldiers.
Throughout the war, Ukrainian women have continuously suffered torture, rape, or other forms of sexual violence.
As part of the POFF film festival, the program is set to include its "Standing with Ukraine" part featuring Ukrainian films that are "dedicated to the Ukrainians who are determined to defend their right to decide their own future," according to the film festival's website.
Despite praise given to the organizers for featuring Ukraine-focused films, the State Film Agency said that including a film directed by Russian filmmaker in Ukrainian-oriented programming may amount to carrying "the risk of propaganda justifying (Russian) aggression."
“Given the aggression of Russia against Ukraine and the sufferings of a large number of Ukrainian people, it is of paramount importance to ensure that cultural platforms do not become tools for films blurring the boundaries of understanding the reality of Ukrainians," the agency said in a Facebook post.
Following the agency's protest, the film appears to have been removed the lineup of the "Standing with Ukraine" programming, although a photo for the film still appears under the banner. The film is still listed in the film festival's main programming under a different film category.
It does not appear as though POFF has provided a statement on the changes.
Questions surrounding the screening of the film come as film festivals around the world have canceled screening of the "Russians at War" film, criticized by many for being perceived as an attempt to whitewash Russian soldiers involved in Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) opened an investigation against Russian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova, the director of "Russians at War," on the charges of justifying and recognizing the legitimacy of Russia's aggression against Ukraine and illegally crossing Ukraine's internationally recognized borders when filming in the Russian-occupied territories.
Irynka Hromotska
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