News Analysis India

Tag: Volodymyr Zelensky

  • David Lynch slams Vladimir Putin over Russian invasion of Ukraine

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: ‘Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me’ director David Lynch has condemned the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin following the Russian “invasion” of Ukraine and the subsequent devastation that’s unfolding, reports ‘Variety’.

    According to ‘Variety’, the director delivered a stern and emotionally charged message to Putin through his daily weather report on YouTube. Lynch may not have directed a full-length project since the 2017 limited series ‘Twin Peaks: The Return’ but he is connected to fans through his David Lynch Theater video project on YouTube.

    The filmmaker told Putin it’s inevitable that “death and destruction” will come for him because “what you sow you shall reap”. Reflecting upon human nature, he said in the video accessed by ‘Variety’, “Mr. Putin, we are as human beings charged as to how we treat our fellow man. And there is a law of nature, a hard and fast law for which there are no loopholes and no escaping it, and this law is what you sow you shall reap.”

    He then switched his tone to a more direct one as he further said in the video, “And right now Mr. Putin you are sowing death and destruction. It’s all on you. The Ukrainians didn’t attack your country. You went in and attacked their country. All this death and destruction is going to come back and visit you, and in this big picture we are involved in, there is an infinite amount of time, life after life after life, for you to reap what you are sowing.”

    He then goes on to give a word of advice to the Russian president, “My advice to you is save yourself, save the Ukrainians, save this world. Start getting along with your neighbours. Start building friendships. We are a world family. There is no room for this kind of absurdity anymore.”

    Urging Putin to cease the attack and military operations, he said, “Get with it. Stop this attack. Let’s work together so all the countries of this world can come up in peace and get along with each other. Let’s solve the problems we’ve got together. Let’s get real! Everyone.”

  • Berlin Film Festival calls for peace in Ukraine

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: The Berlin Film Festival has called for peace over the situation in Ukraine, which is currently in a state of military conflict after Russian forces launched operation on Thursday morning.

    “We — festival workers, artists, filmmakers — think fondly of our friends in Ukraine and we are by their side in a call for peace,” the festival said in a statement.

    “One week ago, the Berlin International Film Festival was celebrating a complicated yet successful edition. Filmmakers, artists and journalists from all over the world gathered in Berlin to enjoy a collective and joyful experience. The feeling of being together again, with no distinctions of nationality, religion, or culture, transported us in a way that film festivals can accomplish,” the statement added.

    “While these memories remain fresh, other images have broken into our lives, bringing a darker perspective. The world is on a verge of a huge crisis. As a showcase of the free world, the Berlinale has always put at its centre the notion of freedom and the will to bridge East and West.”

    The statement pointed out that the festival has, through its history, showcased films relating to Ukrainian history and culture.

    This included the 2022 selection, Maryna El Gorbach’s ‘Klondike’, set in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, where fighting is taking place on the nearby Russian-Ukrainian border in 2014.

    The festival also showed ‘Terykony’ by Taras Tomenko, Oleg Sentsov’s “Numbers” in 2020, the films of Kira Muratova and the early short films of Myroslav Slaboshpytsky.

    “Films cannot change the society and the course of history, but they can help in changing the minds of people. Films are telling us that the world is already in a too precarious condition to add even more suffering and destruction,” the statement concluded.

  • Ukrainian director Stanislav Kapralov echoes a sense of hope and despair

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: Ukrainian director Stanislav Kapralov, who most recently helmed the mystery thriller ‘Egregor’, premiered in 2021, was in the middle of pre-production for a new film — a Hollywood project with U.S. actors and a U.S. distributor lined up — when Russia invaded Ukraine on Thursday.

    In an email interview with ‘Variety’, the director-screenwriter said: “My family and I are in Ukraine. It was not possible to leave, but we moved from Kiev to western Ukraine. My father and grandmother are still in Kyiv. They are hiding in basements from bombings — elderly people sitting in damp basements.”

    Kapralov sounded hopeful when he said: “Everyone believes in the Ukrainian army, and no one loses heart. The Ukrainian army is putting up a heroic effort and is inflicting heavy losses on the Russians. Everyone is united in their hatred for Russia. My grandmother lived during the occupation of Ukraine in World War II. All Ukrainians compare Russia with fascist Germany.”

    He was, however, critical of the international community’s reluctance to do more than just condemn the Russian invasion.

    Kapralov told ‘Variety’: “Ukraine is fighting for all of Europe to stop the ‘Hitler’ of the 21st century. But we get the feeling that we are fighting alone. NATO refused to close the airspace; Germany, Italy, and Hungary blocked a proposal to cut Russia off from SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication), and Turkey refused to help in the Black Sea.”

    Ironically, Kapralov’s ongoing film project was set to be shot in Chernobyl, which was seized by Russian military forces on the first day of battle.

    “We made a decision to evacuate the project to Europe and shoot there,” Kapralov said. “I hope our plans come true. To do this, my team and I will need to travel to Europe. Preferably alive. We are all still currently in Ukraine,” he added.

    Kapralov, who is also a screenwriter and producer, has worked with some of Ukraine’s biggest names, including Ivanna Sakhno (‘Pacific Rim: Uprising’ and ‘High Fidelity’).