KinoSoyuz is going to sue the Ministry of Culture over distribution certificates used “as a censorship tool”

The public organization Cinema Union intends to sue the Ministry of Culture “over the use of distribution certificates as a tool of censorship, reports . ” Meduza

The statement received by the editors of the publication was signed by filmmakers Alexey Popogrebsky, Andrey Proshkin, Boris Khlebnikov, Vitaly Mansky, Marina Razbezhkina, Andrey Plakhov, Alexey Fedorchenko, Oleg Berezin and Vladimir Kott.

In their opinion, the current procedure for issuing distribution certificates provides “individual ‘influential’ individuals with the opportunity, at their discretion, to postpone the release of films or not to release them at all.” Only the court can make decisions to ban films, the Film Union insists.

Earlier in January, distributors accused the Ministry of Culture of interfering in the industry after the department revoked the distribution certificates of the films “The Adventures of Paddington 2” and “The Maze Runner: The Death Cure.”

After this, the department revoked the distribution certificate for the British comedy “The Death of Stalin,” which tells the story of how the elite fought for power after the death of the Soviet leader.

“The film desecrates our historical symbols - the Soviet anthem, orders and medals. Marshal Zhukov is portrayed as a moron,” complained Pozhigailo, a member of the council at the Ministry of Culture.

Despite this decision, the film was shown at the Pioneer cinema. After this, the police came to the cinema, and the management of Pioneer refused to further demonstrate the comedy.