Russian website to list artworks hit by new swearing ban

Russian cultural figures are preparing to launch an online directory of the most famous works of art that are now banned in Russia because they contain swearwords. The project is a response to a new law banning the use of profanity in the arts, which came into effect on 1 July.

The directory will feature four main categories — theatre, literature, music and film — as well as a petition calling on the Russian government to revise the law banning the use of expletives on stage and in films, Dmitry Yegorov, the theatre director who heads the project, told Izvestia.

“We decided to show how a whole layer of great Russian culture is being destroyed. In connection with this stupid law many literary works, song and films are banned,” Yegorov said. “Now we are very close to having a list of famous dramatists ready whose works, since 1 July, are forbidden from being read or performed on stage.” Among those to be featured on the website are the writers Alexander Pushkin, Sergei Esenin and Venedikt Yerofeyev, as well as film director Andrey Zvyagintsev.

The law banning the use of profanity in the arts has been vaguely defined: if they “do not meet the standards of literary Russian”, works and performances can be subjected to independent examination and penalties. A number of prominent figures, including filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov, director and playwright Mark Zakharov, and presidential cultural advisor Vladimir Tolstoy have spoken out against the new law, which many consider to be a major obstacle to creative freedom in Russia.

Despite early threats that the use of profanity in Zvyagintsev’s newest film Leviathan would result in it being banned in Russia, the director refused to re-edit the movie in line with the new law. “We considered every word, and all the words are relevant [for the film] as they help to recreate authentic conversational language. Castrated language and bans are bad for the arts,” Zvyagintsev said at the Cannes Film Festival this year. The Ministry of Culture has since given Leviathan an 18+ certificate.