Russia's Justice Ministry added filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev to its register of "foreign agents" on Friday, months after the director took the stage at the Cannes Film Festival to collect the Grand Prix and asked Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine.
In its published justification, the ministry says Zvyagintsev spread "false information about decisions taken by the public authorities of the Russian Federation and the policies they pursue", that he "interacted with foreign agents" and that he lives outside the country. Meduza also reports a reference to work with organisations Russia classifies as "undesirable".
"Minotaur", conscription and the Oscars
Zvyagintsev's first feature in almost a decade, "Minotaur" premiered at the 79th Cannes Film Festival in May and took the Grand Prix, the festival's second-highest award. The film follows a Russian businessman forced to choose which of his employees will be conscripted to fight in Ukraine. Made with the French companies CG Cinéma and MK Productions, it was submitted by France for the Academy Awards.
Accepting the prize, the director said that "millions of people on both sides of the front line dream of only one thing: for the massacres to stop", and said only Putin is capable of ending the conflict.
Now 62 and living outside Russia since the pandemic, Zvyagintsev is known for "The Return", "The Banishment" and "Leviathan", a stark portrait of Russian life far from the big cities.
What the label imposes
Those entered in the register must report periodically to the authorities, face restrictions on their income, are barred from public office, and must mark everything they publish with a notice that the content comes from a "foreign agent". The list already includes the writer Boris Akunin and the musician Boris Grebenshchikov.
On the same day, according to OVD-Info, the ministry added the politician Pavel Ivanov, the blogger Erzhan Turgumbai, the journalist Mikhail Shevelev and the Anarkhist-35 project — the weekly routine of a list that is updated on Fridays.
The practical effect on Zvyagintsev is limited while he remains abroad: what the designation reaches, inside Russia, is the circulation of his films and the risk taken by anyone who screens them or writes about them.
With information from Al Jazeera, Meduza and OVD-Info.
