From the ban of Stalin's Death to the Husky's arrest: what events in the cultural sphere were discussed in 2018

The year 2018 was very intense in terms of the number of resonant cultural events. Among them are the prohibition of the film “Death of Stalin”, the arrest of rapper Husky, the harsh remarks of the singer Zemfira about Monetochka and Buckwheat, and the divorce of humorists Yevgeny Petrosyan and Elena Stepanenko. About these and other memorable moments of the year - in the material RT.

Films "Death of Stalin" and "Holiday"

January 2018 was marked by a scandal in the field of cinema: the Ministry of Culture of Russia withdrew a rolling certificate from the comedy Armando Iannucci “The Death of Stalin”. It was reported that the reason for the withdrawal was the presence in the film of information, the distribution of which is prohibited in the country. The Pioneer cinema, which displayed the film without a rolling license, was awarded several fines. Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky explained that the older generation can perceive the "Death of Stalin" as a mockery of the Soviet past.

In October, disputes of a similar nature arose around the black comedy “Holiday”, which had not yet appeared on the screens of Alexey Krasovsky’s black comedy. The public was outraged that the action of the painting takes place in besieged Leningrad.

Advertising poster of the film "Death of Stalin" in the shopping center "Gallery Novosibirsk" in Novosibirsk
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© Alexander Kryazhev

Charges of Ulyana Sergienko and Miroslavy Duma of racism

Then, in January, designer Ulyana Sergeenko and Russian journalist and blogger Miroslav Duma became the object of public censure. Western media and users of the English segment of the Internet have accused them of racism.

The reason for the charges was written by Sergeenko and a humorous note intended for the Duma with the text “To my niggas in Paris” (“To My Niggaz in Paris.” - RT ). Figurant scandal explained that this phrase is taken from the eponymous song Kanye West and Jay-Z, and they had no intention of using the word "nigger" in a negative way. Nevertheless, the Duma was expelled from the board of directors of the online store The Tot, with which it is co-founder. Sergeenko also had to face certain restrictions - however, according to the designer, after the scandal, sales of her clothes increased.

Designer Uliana Sergienko
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© Ekaterina Chesnokova

Speech by Yulia Samoilova at Eurovision

In May 2018, the Eurovision Song Contest was once again held in Lisbon. Singer Yulia Samoilova, representing Russia with the composition I Won't Break, failed to pass the semifinal stage - thus, the Russian singer was not able to perform in the final for the first time since the introduction of this system in 2004.

Speech Samoilova immediately began to discuss in social networks. The audience criticized both the song with which the singer went to Portugal, and the setting of the number and vocals. However, according to the main producer of musical and entertainment programs of the First Channel Yuri Aksyuta, the singer did everything in her power. Aksyuta also noted that he perceives defeat as a personal failure.

Julia Samoilova at Eurovision
Reuters
© Pedro Nunes

Damage to the picture Repin

On May 25, one of the visitors to the Tretyakov Gallery damaged the painting of Ilya Repin "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan on November 16, 1581". He struck several blows to the canvas with a metal fence, as a result of which the canvas was damaged in three places.

Vandal turned out to be a resident of Voronezh, Igor Podporin. Immediately after his arrest, he said that he had specially arrived to look at Ivan the Terrible, and before that he had drunk vodka. Later, Podporin declared that Ivan the Terrible, in his opinion, was canonized, and the painting itself insulted the feelings of believers.

Igor Podporin was found to be sane and is currently in jail, he faces up to six years in prison. The restoration of the painting by Repin is carried out by a special restoration department of the Tretyakov Gallery.

Visitors to the reproduction of the painting by Ivan Repin "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan November 16, 1581", the original of which is damaged by Igor Podporin in the Tretyakov Gallery
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© Sergey Pyatakov

“Summer” by Kirill Serebrennikov

One of the main events of the year in the field of the film industry was the release of the drama Kirill Serebrennikov “Summer”. Even before the release, a picture telling about the formation of Russian rock in Leningrad in the 1980s and the relationship between Viktor Tsoi and Mike Naumenko was criticized by musician Boris Grebenshchikov. According to the leader of the "Aquarium", the script wrote the tape "a person from another planet." In addition, many have displeased the decision to take on the role of Naumenko singer Roma the Beast.

Interest in the film was also fueled by the fact that at the time of working on the tape, Serebrennikov was under house arrest in the case of the Seventh Studio (at the time of publication of this article the director is still under arrest).

The world premiere of the drama took place on May 9 at the Cannes Film Festival. On the red carpet, the picture was presented by the leading actors and producer Ilya Stewart - they took with them a poster on which the name of the director was written. Some guests donned #FreeKirill T-shirts (“Free Cyril.” - RT ).

Actors and producer of the film "Summer" holding a banner with the name of Kirill Serebrennikov at the Cannes Film Festival
Reuters
© Eric Gaillard

Resonant Interviews by Mikhail Yefremov

In June, an interview with actor and director Mikhail Efremov appeared on the YouTube channel of Yury Dudy “vDud”. In a conversation with a journalist, Efremov offered the Russian authorities "to resolve the issue with the Crimea." The actor explained that to do this, you can either supply Ukraine with gas for free, or transfer it to Kiev for the collection of a fare for the Crimean bridge.

Efremov's statement caused a wide public response. Dissatisfied with the words of the artist were both ordinary Internet users and the authorities of the peninsula. The vice-premier of the Crimean government, Dmitry Polonsky, considered the actor's proposal to give the bridge to Kiev a "betrayal", and senator Sergei Tsekov even saw in these words a call to violate Russia's territorial integrity.

A few months later, Mikhail Efremov once again became the person involved in the scandal - he gave a resonant interview to a Ukrainian radio station, in which he spoke about the "imperial daze" of Russia. Then the State Duma offered to deprive Efremov of the title of Honored Artist. However, in defense of the actor made a number of cultural figures. So, humorist Vladimir Vinokur suggested that Efremov does not speak seriously, and the actor Mikhail Porechenkov stressed that the title of the national artist to his colleague "was given not for remarks."

Mikhail Efremov in an interview for the channel Yuri Dudy "vDud"
© youtube.com

Zemfira's statements about Coin and Buckwheat

In July, on the official page of the singer Zemfira, a post appeared in Facebook criticizing the beginning Russian performers - Buckwheat and Coin. Zemfira got acquainted with the work of Buckwheat (her real name is Anastasia Ivanova) and came to the conclusion that her colleague does not know how to sing, compose good texts and, moreover, looks very bad. Coin (Elizaveta Gyrdymova) was lucky a little more - she was imputed only to a “disgusting” vocal timbre.

Many commentators agreed with the opinion of the Russian rock legend, but others felt that Zemfira’s statements were too categorical - especially in terms of criticism of appearance. Some Internet users reacted to the singer's statements with humor - so the scandal turned into a comic meme.

Zemfira
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© Maxim Blinov

Divorce Petrosyan and Stepanenko

In August, Yevgeny Petrosyan and Elena Stepanenko’s intention to dissolve the marriage became known. Began a loud divorce process. The media reported that Stepanenko claims for all the money acquired in a marriage, most of the properties, all the paintings, collection porcelain items, old books on the occult and much more. According to RIA Novosti, the list of joint property takes 80 sheets in small handwriting.

On November 16, the Khamovnichesky Court of Moscow officially dissolved the marriage of artists. Disputes over the division of property continue to this day.

Evgeny Petrosyan and Elena Stepanenko
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Cancellation of concerts of Russian musicians and the arrest of Husky

In the middle of the autumn of 2018, some Russian musicians began to have systematic problems with concert activities: employees of regional clubs said that they received recommendations not to carry out the planned events. In particular, rappers Husky, Aljay, GONE.Fludd, Frezzon, Ic3peak and other artists faced difficulties in conducting concerts.

November 21, after the cancellation of the concert in Krasnodar, Husky climbed onto the hood of a parked car and began to perform the song "Ay", after which he was detained by the police. The musician was accused of disorderly conduct and arrested for 12 days. Husky was released a few days later, but his detention caused a wide public response. On December 1, the musicians of the Ic3peak group were taken to the police station in Novosibirsk - they were released after the conversation.

During a meeting with the Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed to look into the situation with the cancellation of concerts. He also commented on what happened during the big press conference. According to the politician, the approach of “grabbing and not letting go” will not lead to anything, but it is necessary to act differently - “carefully and calmly build, convince of the greater attractiveness of other values”.

Rap performer Husky (Dmitry Kuznetsov) during the consideration of an administrative case in the Pervomaisky District Court of Krasnodar
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