Russia is boycotting the 2023 Academy Awards, further distancing itself from the West as the kremlin’s war continues in Ukraine.
As first reported by the news outlet AFP, the Film Academy of Russia announced Monday that it would not be submitting a Russian film to contend in the Oscars’ International Feature category.
The decision comes as Russia’s latest effort to distance itself from the West and particularly the United States, which has continued to send aid to Ukraine since President Vladimir Putin’s controversial Feb. 24 invasion of the sovereign nation.
“The presidium of the Film Academy of Russia has decided not to nominate a national film for the Oscars award of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2022,”The Russian academy released a statement.
The surprise decision led to the resignation of Pavel Tchoukhraï, the head of Russia’s Oscars select committee responsible with choosing a film for competition. Citing the Academy’s actions “behind his back,” Tchoukhraï’s move was in protest of the decision.
While several international film festivals, including those out of Stockholm and Glasgow, have already banned premiering Russian-backed feature films in the lead-up to awards season, previous years have seen the Film Academy of Russia’s selections fare quite well in the Oscars’ International Feature category. Most recently Oscar-nominated was Andrey Zvyagintsev’s “Loveless” in 2017; Kantemir Balagov’s “Beanpole” – which won the Un Certain Regard prize at Cannes – and Andrei Konchalovsky’s “Dear Comrades” – which won the Special Jury Prize at Venice – were shortlisted in the years since.
Russia won the Academy Award for Best International Feature 1995. “Burnt by the Sun”Nikita Mikhalkov, a filmmaker who followed the life of a Russian dictator Josef Stalin.
