The Cannes Film Festival has released a statement in which they stated they would be banning “Russian delegations” for this year’s edition, unless the war gets resolved.
Here’s hoping they don’t ban Russian films, as that would make absolutely zero sense considering that many Russian directors have been openly against Russian government over the years.
From what I can see, only Kirill Serebrennikov is set to be part of this year’s competition with “Tchaikovsky’s Wife.” Serebrennikov has been a target of Russian government since 2017, and might still be under house arrest (we’re not entirely sure). He didn’t attend last year’s festival when his “Petrov’s Flu” was part of the official competition as the Russian government had banned him from travelling overseas.
Yesterday, the Glasgow Film Festival pulled two Russian films from its lineup, and Stockholm said it would not screen any Russian movies as well. Locarno, on the other hand, said it would not join a boycott.
As mentioned, it makes absolutely no sense punishing Russian artists and the Russian public for the acts of its own government. Just yesterday, Disney said it would stop screening its films in Russia, and the WB halted the release of “The Batman” in the country. These actions were just one of many boycotts from big companies towards Moscow.
Before practically going bankrupt, Row K had planned to release "Cliffhanger" in August 2026 on more than 3000 screens nationwide — hopefully with Vertical it hits as many theaters.