As the Russian army continues to shell Ukrainian cities, Moscow is celebrating its 44th international film festival under its longtime president, 76-year-old actor, director, blogger and Putin friend Nikita Mikhalkov.
Mikhalkov begins by declaring that Russia is the only country in the world that stands up for the defense of the values to which its ancestors swore their oath - thus presenting the Russian war of aggression as a forward defense of tradition, as does Russian Patriarch Kirill, who defended the Approves the war in Ukraine as a metaphysical struggle against Western liberalism.
In contrast to previous years, when European countries such as Germany, Finland, Spain or Norway sent films to the Moscow competition, this time Europe is only represented with two priestly dramas, the French "Babel Carpenters" by Paul-Anthony Mille and "The Voice in the Desert". represented by the orthodox producer and man of God from Romania, Ciprian Mega.
Contributions come from China, Iran, Sri Lanka and above all from Russia, foreign stars stay away.
All the more emphatically Mikhalkov emphasizes that he doesn't care.
Because today's heroes are Russia's fighters in the Donbass;
there the new elite would emerge, a new society, a new world.
Most countries in the world do not support the sanctions against Russia, Mikhalkov claims, and are waiting.
Therefore he wishes himself and everyone strength and an understanding of the seriousness of what is happening.
The liberal hunter Mikhalkov, who owns several film studios and heads Russia's cultural fund, then hit out at artists and intellectuals who emigrated to protest the war.
They are "ungrateful" to their country, where they get money from the state for their projects.
Mikhalkov expressly distinguished them from the anti-communist refugees after the October Revolution, who were expelled but then created a great émigré culture.
The attitude of the current opponents of the war must have consequences, Mikhalkov demanded, for example the blocking of films in which they took part.
The mother-son drama "Simple Man" with the émigré actress Chulpan Chamatowa, who shows solidarity with Ukraine and condemns the war, was also discontinued at the festival.
In the most recent issue of his propaganda blog “Exorciser of the Devil” (Besogon), Mikhalkov outlined what should happen to the occupied Ukraine, in which he declared the Ukrainian language an instrument of hatred against everything Russian.
Lessons in Ukrainian are therefore a disaster, claims the inciting voice, who is the glamor face of Putin fascism for Ukrainians, but also for many Russians who posted horrified comments on social networks.