A war documentary, Russians at War, filmed by Russian-Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova and screened at the Venice International Film Festival, has come under fire from Ukrainian politicians and cultural figures, who called it blatant propaganda - a claim she denies.
Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) issued an official statement on Sunday, Sept. 8, condemning the showing of the film at the Venice International Film Festival amid Russia’s ongoing military aggression against Ukraine, labelling it as Russian propaganda .
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Trofimova’s documentary purports to show her embedded with a Russian battalion as it advanced across eastern Ukraine for several months following Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The screening at the prestigious festival sparked outrage across Ukrainian cultural and political circles against what many consider a pro-Kremlin film that seeks to whitewash and justify Moscow's assault.
“The screening of this film in Venice and its planned premiere in Toronto is an insult to the victims of the war unleashed by Russia. The documentary distorts the reality of Russian aggression and serves as a Kremlin propaganda tool,” a Ukrainian government statement said.
The MFA reported that the Ukrainian Embassy in Italy has already sent a letter to the president of the Venice Biennale, calling the film’s screening “unacceptable.”
ISW Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, November, 21, 2024
Similarly, the Consulate General of Ukraine in Toronto urged the organizers of the Toronto International Film Festival to cancel the planned screening.
Ukraine's MFA called on the international community to stop providing further platforms for Russia to continue to “whitewash its crimes.”
According to Trofimova, her goal was to depict “ordinary people” in the Russian army, countering the Western narrative that all Russian soldiers are war criminals.
In a statement to AFP, she described her work as “anti-war” and claimed she took significant risks to make the film.
Journalists who viewed Russians at War said that it showed the day-to-day life of Russian soldiers at the front.
According to Reuters and AFP, the film includes interviews with soldiers, some of whom express doubts about their participation in the war, while others admit they are fighting primarily for money.
The film depicts outdated weapons, poor conditions, and soldiers grappling with their situation.
"To me, the biggest shock was to see how ordinary they were. Absolutely ordinary guys with families, with a sense of humor, with their own understanding of what's happening in this war," Trofimova is reported as saying by Reuters.
Critics argue that the film fails to show the full extent of the destruction caused by Russian forces in Ukraine. It also glosses over accusations of war crimes against Russian soldiers, one of whom dismisses the allegations as “impossible.”
“We demand an end to attempts to provide Russia with an international cultural scene, which the Russian Federation uses to whitewash its crimes,” Ukraine's MFA concluded in its statement.
“Russian soldiers who commit atrocities in Ukraine should get the floor not at prestigious film festivals, but in the dock.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, said it was “shameful” that a “propaganda film” was allowed to be shown.
In a social media post, he asked why “Anastasia Trofimova, as well as some other Russian cultural figures [from] a country that kills Ukrainians, our children every day - can work in the civilized world at all.”
Russians at War was shown at the Venice Film Festival on Sept. 5. The director, Trofimova, has previously stated in Russian media that she filmed in occupied Ukrainian territories, including Donetsk and Luhansk, where she stayed for seven months.
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