Nika laureates spoke from the stage in defense of political prisoners and detainees on March 26

Laureates of the Russian national cinematography award “Nika” spoke from the stage in support of political prisoners, as well as people detained at protests on March 26. Moskovsky Komsomolets writes about this.

As follows from the newspaper report, director Alexander Sokurov (received the Eldar Ryazanov Honor and Dignity Award) spoke from the stage about the Ukrainian director Oleg Sentsov, convicted in the Russian Federation for terrorism, and spoke about the protests on March 26.

“The state is making a mistake by behaving so familiarly with schoolchildren and students. We need to hear them,” TASS quotes Sokurov’s statement. According to MK, the director said that “you cannot start a civil war among schoolchildren and students.”

According to a video posted on Facebook, the director called for “the adoption of a law prohibiting arresting and generally touching women and girls who participate in public events.”

Director Alexei Krasovsky, who received the Discovery of the Year award for the film Collector, called on filmmakers to speak out in defense of those who were detained on March 26, noting that there were “twice as many of them as those gathered in the hall.”

According to TASS, Krasovsky’s performance was supported by the artistic director of the Lenkom Theater Mark Zakharov. “I’m happy that Krasovsky spoke about some of our painful and difficult problems in our lives,” the agency reports.

According to journalist Elizaveta Nesterova, actress Elena Koreneva, who won the “Best Supporting Actress” nomination for her role in the film “Her Name was Mumu,” spoke from the stage about political prisoners and detainees on March 26. Koreneva, in particular, mentioned Oleg Sentsov, as well as Sergei Mokhnatkin and Oleg Navalny.

On March 28, the 30th Nika Award ceremony took place. The prize for best film was won by Andrei Konchalovsky for the film “Paradise”. The best non-fiction film was “In the Rays of the Sun” by Vitaly Mansky, filmed in North Korea . The ceremony was not broadcast on federal television channels.