On October 7th 2024, the documentary "Russians at War" by a Russian-Canadian director Anastasia Trofimova is planned to premiere in Switzerland at the 20th Zurich Film Festival. While we support continuous covering of the topic of the illegal war of Russia against Ukraine, we starkly disagree with the decision of the Festival's administration to show the movie amidst the controversy surrounding it.
Movie critics and war experts that were able to preview the movie call it out for depicting false narratives and even faking crucial details, on top of trying to whitewash the war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine. It is very likely that the movie was filmed quite far from the frontlines and with approval of local Russian officers. Furthermore, previous long-term affiliation of the director Anastasia Trofimova with the Russian state media RT adds credibility to the claims of the documentary being nothing more than a propaganda piece.
Russian state propaganda machine is spending more and more resources every day to influence the public discourse in Europe and Switzerland through social media influencers and bot accounts, "independent" media and artists. Even if the intentions of the Festival's administration to show an "anti-war film" are noble, we find this assessment far-fetched. We consider it extremely worrying that an institution such as the Zurich Film Festival, which is supported to a large extent by public funds, is becoming a conduit for Russian propaganda.
We urge the administration to prevent spreading Russian propaganda that dilutes the context of this war of aggression.
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