Russia has slightly relaxed a controversial new set of regulations that require all films to secure an exhibition licence before they can be screened in public, by making one-off showings at film festivals exempt.
The ruling follows a crackdown on films that “threaten national unity” or “defile culture”, which led to the announcement of new rules in 2014 by culture minister Vladimir Medinsky, who demanded that the media “consolidate the state and society on the basis of values instilled by our history”.
The demand for exhibition licences was announced alongside a more widely publicised ban on swearing in films and other art forms. This comes after official disdain for the partly state-sponsored anti-Putin satire Leviathan, which has nominated for best foreign-language film Oscar.
The new rules triggered a number of protests from film-makers, critics and industry executives, who complained of what they considered direct political interference in the content of films. The implementation of the mandatory licence rule, which was due to begin on 1 January, has been delayed while the complaints have been assessed.
Now comments Russia’s deputy culture minister Grigory Ivliyev, translated by the Hollywood Reporter from an original article in Gazeta.ru, suggests that the ministry has changed its mind over film-festival showings, as the complicated and drawn-out application process has harmed film-festival programming.
There is, however, no suggestion that the culture ministry’s stance for licences for films going on release has changed in any way.
