The Cannes Film Festival has rejected press accreditations for practically all Russian journalists this year. This as a result of their stance against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to two Russian journalists, veterans of attending Cannes, their media accreditations were denied late this week by Cannes press chief Agnes Leroy. They said Leroy told them that the festival had decided to refuse credentials for all Russian journalists.
In an email to TheWrap, Leroy said, “We approved only the medias that are in line with the Festival’s position concerning the situation in Ukraine.”
The problem I have with this Cannes policy is that you’ll have plenty of journalists who were denied accreditation that aren’t pro-Putin and/or “linked to the Russian government.”
In the official statement it was clear that you won’t be accepting journalists who work for state media, but surprise, we still have independent media with journalists, whose work was never easy in Russia from the start. Why are they facing such hypocrisy in France now?
— сексуальная тварь (@so_karslidible) May 5, 2022
This past March, the Venice Film Festival did the right thing by acknowledging that they would be accepting the media accreditation of Russians and films from Russian filmmakers “who oppose the regime.”
I can confirm that Joel Coen’s “Jack of Spades” is based on Frances Frederica Montrésor’s 1901 novel “The Alien: A Story of Middle Age.” It’s a ghost story. A gothic mystery.