Russia Boycotts 2023 Oscars :
The Russian Film Academy has announced that it will not submit a film in the Best International Feature Film category at the 2023 Academy Awards.
The decision to boycott the prestigious US-based award ceremony comes amid heightened international tensions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine earlier this year.
The country’s film academy has said that it won’t be submitting a movie for the next 2023 international Oscar competition, which is another indication of Russia’s disengagement from communication with the West.
The boycott of the Oscars coincides with rising hostilities between Washington and Moscow following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24 and its continued assault there.
Recently, Russia accused the American government of directly interfering in the conflict and vowed to sever all diplomatic ties with the nation.
Pavel Tchoukhra, the chairman of the local Oscar committee, said the decision to boycott the Oscars was taken “behind [his] back” but that he was unaware of it at the time. Since then, Tchoukhra has resigned.
Russian movies have a solid track record with the US Academy and are frequently submitted for the Oscars. Loveless by Andrey Zvyagintsev was a 2017 Oscar nominee. The 2019 film Beanpole by Kantemir Balagov and the 2016 film Dear Comrades by Andrei Konchalovsky both made the best foreign movie shortlist.
Numerous significant film festivals have banned Russian state-backed films as a result of Russia’s military incursion. There have also been requests for an outright ban on all Russian movies, albeit not many significant festivals have acted in that way.