European Film Academy condemns war and joins Ukrainian Film Academy in boycott of Russian Films

The European Film Academy has joined the massive global sanctions currently in effect against Russia and fully supports the call of the Ukrainian Film Academy to boycott Russian film as expressed here.

They released the following statement:

“The Academy strongly condemns the war started by Russia – Ukraine’s sovereignty and territory must be respected. Putin’s actions are atrocious and totally unacceptable, and we strongly condemn them.

What concerns us most is the fate of the Ukrainians, and our hearts are with the Ukrainian filmmaking community. We are fully aware that several of our members are fighting with arms against the aggressor. The Academy will therefore exclude Russian films from this year’s European Film Awards and we lend our support to each element of the boycott.

The European Film Academy remains a place to support and unite all filmmakers who share our belief in human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, rule of law, and human rights. We acknowledge and appreciate those brave filmmakers in Russia who stand up against this war. But in view of a brutal and unjustified attack, we have to stand with our sisters and brothers in Ukraine whose lives are at risk.

We acknowledge that this reaction should have come at an earlier point in the past days, but our democratic processes needed to be followed. Whilst those took place, the European Film Academy has, in parallel and working quietly behind the scenes, managed to raise funds and put together support structures.

We therefore take this opportunity to unequivocally express our protest against this abominable war and to re-confirm and reiterate our complete and total solidarity with the heroic people of Ukraine.”