WE (HAND SIGN) 'HEART' RUSSIA

Rammstein Singer, ‘Matrix’ Producer Sign Pro-Russian, Anti-War Petition
Scott Roxborough 

A group of film, television and music industry figures, among them The Matrix: Resurrections producer Grant Hill, Oscar-winning director Stefan Ruzowitzky (The Counterfeiters) and Rammstein frontman Till Lindemann, have signed a petition condemning Vladimir Putin’s “war of aggression” in Ukraine and calling for an immediate end to the conflict.

What sets the petition, posted on Change.org Friday, apart from dozens of similar calls from industry players large and small since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, is the group’s deliberately pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian stance.

“We love Russia and the people of Russia! And we love Ukraine and the people of Ukraine!” the petition begins. The group says it stands behind the people of Ukraine “who are defending their independence and young democracy” but also pays tribute to “everyone in Russia who has the courage to protest against the war” in the face of the Russian government’s brutal crackdown on dissent within the country.

Since the start of the war, there has been a call among many in the international film and television industry to broadly sanction both Russia and Russian artists. In addition to a broad entertainment economy boycott — virtually every major film and TV company, including all the studios, Netflix, the BBC, ITV and others, have paused or stopped doing business in or with Russia — several industry bodies, including the European Film Academy, the Polish Film Institute and every official film organization in Ukraine, have demanded an all-out ban on Russian cinema.

Among the initial signatories to the petition are DDA agency founder Dennis Davidson, German actors Anna Loos (The Weissensee Saga) and Jan Josef Liefers (Tatort), the French-Polish actress Elisabeth Duda (La Belle Époque), Cloud Atlas producer Alexander van Dülmen and Austrian actress Susanne Wuest (Goodnight Mommy).

Europe’s major film festivals have taken a middle road. Cannes has barred the presence of any Russian government delegations at its festival but said it will not boycott movies by Russian directors. Berlin on Wednesday took a similar stance, saying it will ban official Russian state institutions and delegations as well as “supporting actors of the regime” from participating in the Berlinale “as long as the Russian government is waging this cruel war against Ukraine,” but drawing the line at banning Russian filmmakers, saying to do so would “suppress many critical voices” of the Putin government.