20 Apr 2023 18:24

Film director Mikhalkov sees no point in nominating Russian films for Oscars

MOSCOW. April 20 (Interfax) - There is no point in nominating Russian films for Oscars from the U.S. Motion Picture Academy, Nikita Mikhalkov, president of the Moscow International Film Festival and Oscar-winning film director, said.

"We see what [kind of films] get Oscars today, we see how it has changed. Personally, I don't see any point in sending one in order to [just] hope," Mikhalkov said at a meeting on Thursday.

He believes Russia should develop its own films rather than try to "follow trends."

Mikhalkov again spoke in favor of creating a Eurasian academy. "And in a specific sense, to counterbalance the Oscars. I mean the countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS. It will be a very valuable award, which will be given in different countries every year," he said.

In September 2022, the presidium of the National Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences of Russia decided not to nominate a film for that year's Oscars. Following this, film director Pavel Chukhrai, who headed the Russian Oscars Committee in 2021, said he was leaving his post due to a decision of the National Academy presidium. Some others, including Andrei Zvyagintsev, Sergei Selyanov and Vladimir Kott, left the committee at that time.

The last time a Russian film was nominated for the Oscars was in 2021.