An open letter against the war in Ukraine has been signed by prominent Russian filmmakers, led by Fedor Lyass (“Hardcore Henry”).
Signatories include Roman Vasyanov (“Suicide Squad”, “Fury”), Mikhail Krichman (“Loveless”, “Leviathan”), Pavel Kapinos (“Hardcore Henry”), Vladislav Opelyants (“Leto”, “Petrov’s Flu”, “ Persian Lessons”) and Pavel Fomintsev (“Unclenching Fists”).
Since the start of Russia’s attack on Ukraine on February 24, Russian filmmakers and animators have bravely come together and spoken out against their government’s actions and appealed to the international community for support. In doing so, the signatories put themselves at risk both personally and professionally. Alexander Rodnyansky, the producer of two-time Oscar-nominated ‘Leviathan,’ ‘Loveless’, told Variety last week that he felt “unbearably ashamed” and “incredibly, deeply sad” when news of the invasion Russian from Ukraine broke.
The full translated text of the letter and the list of signatories are below:
We Russian filmmakers demand an end to military aggression against Ukraine, an immediate ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory.
On February 22, 2022, Russia started a war with Ukraine. There are no geopolitical excuses, no goals of any kind that would justify taking human lives – don’t let the propaganda convince you otherwise. The officially declared objectives of this “operation” have nothing to do with reality: war is taking place all over Ukraine, people are being killed or forced to flee their homes and spend their nights in bomb shelters . What can possibly justify that? What greater goal is worth for the people of Kiev to learn to distinguish a Grad rocket from a Smerch rocket by sound? Such a goal does not exist.
The so-called “military operation” will isolate Russia from the rest of the world for decades, expel it from the international cultural scene, lead to devastating consequences for its economy and taint us and our children with deserved shame. We haven’t done enough to prevent this war, but we don’t want it and won’t let it happen in our name.
We demand an end to the war with Ukraine.
Fedor Lyass
Roman Vasyanov
Michael Hasaya
Pavel Kapinos
Levan Kapanadze
Edward Moshkovich
Alexei Berkovich
Alexander Ilhovsky
Boris Litovchenko
Ulugbek Khamraev
Denis Panov
Evgueni Privin
Mikhail Moukasey
Dasha Grafova
Mikhail Dementyev,
Dmitri Gribanov
Mikhail Kvirikadze
Pavel Beklemishev
Sergei Astakhov
Gleb Filatov
Sergei Machilsky
Yuri Korobeinikov
Yuri Nikogossev
Andrei Krauzov
Yevgeny Kozlov
Mikhail Krichman
Denis Firstov
David Khayznikov
Vladislav Opelyans
Tim Lobov
Denis Alarkon
Vladimir Bashta
Maxime Trapo
Pyotr Dukhovskoy
Maxim Zhukov
Dmitri Maltsev
Yevgeny Korzhenkov
Vladimir Ushakov
Alexander Nosovsky
Anton Drozdov-Schastlivtsev
Alexander Ponomarev
Mila Shamraeva
Dmitry Shabanov
Marlen Butros Yusef
Sergei Komarov
Andrei Ivanov
Ivan Kochubeev
Timofey Fastovsky
Alexei Yankov
Andrei Danelyan
Arkady Chistyakov
Mark Miller
Alexander Grinach
Viktor Sapojnikov
Artem Sadovnikov
Lyudmila Kuropyatkinova
Nikita Petsa
Stanislav Ambartsumov
Vladislav Politics
Karim Imamiev
Arsen Sarkissian
Ksenia Selvian
Alexei Artamonov
Vladimir Borisov
Timur Gavrilenko
Artur Kreytor
Anna Rojetskaya
Roman Sivozhelezov
Valentin Piskun
Egor Danilov
Gleb Neupokoev
Maxim Efros
Ivan Tychko
Alexander Nikolsky
Fyodor Orlovsky
Andrei Vorobiev
Denis Aleksanian
Antoine Verbin
Gleb Klimov
Anton Zabin
Pavel Fomintsev
Igor Bouriak
Vyacheslav Lazarev
Igor Kojevnikov
Oleg Kolskiy
Vasily Ivanov
Gleb Kurochkin
Leonid Proshak
Andrei Ivanov
Alexander Panitchkin
Mitya Smirnov
Yevgeny Antipov
Alexander Dmitriev
Alexandra Avdonina
Vasily Shiroki
Vladimir Timchuk
Dima Ekimov
Matvey Stavitsky
Mikhail Senin
Avel Dotsenko
Robert Sarukhanyan
Ilya Grizenko
Nikolai Smirnov
Dmitry Tskhai
Ilya Lavrov
George Shanovitch
Alexander Aleshkovsky
Alexei Khaustov
Lotos Soony Park
Vyacheslav Lazarev
Sergei Politik
Ilya Averbakh
Dimitri Dolinine
Dmitry Blueglass
Anna Shepilova
Konstantin Artseulov
Alexander Galkin
Andrei Nikolaev
