The Minister of Culture announced the possibility of creating a show to replace Kinotavr

Instead of the canceled Kinotavr festival, a similar event with a different name can be created, and the Ministry of Culture has funds for this, said head of department Olga Lyubimova

Instead of the Kinotavr festival, another film review can be created, said Olga Lyubimova, head of the Ministry of Culture, at a meeting of the State Duma Committee on Culture. Broadcast available on the website of the State Duma.

“We should not be told that we will not have festivals, that we are closing Kinotavr to you. If there is no Kinotavr in Sochi, there will be a national film festival where people will come, because a generation of filmmakers has grown up. There will be no name “Kinotavr”, we will come up with another name together with the industry,” the minister promised, adding that such a festival would be financially supported by the department.

On March 24, the president of Kinotavr, Alexander Rodnyansky, announced the cancellation of the festival, which was supposed to take place from September 13 to 20. Kinotavr is held annually in Sochi, this year the 33rd was supposed to take place. The press service of the Ministry of Culture stated that the department had not received any notice of the cancellation of the festival, and the application for holding the event was still being processed.

Prior to this, Mediazona and The Insider (recognized as foreign media agents) published a photo of a document designed as a letter from Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to Culture Minister Olga Lyubimova. It proposed “to work out the issue of excluding Zelensky and Rodnyansky from the Russian cultural agenda.” Two ministries did not confirm or deny the authenticity of this document.