Art collective Voina files lawsuit against documentary filmmaker

The founders of provocative performance art group Voina are suing the director and distributor of a documentary film as well as the organisers of the Moscow Film Festival for violation of their image rights as well as moral damages. In additional to compensation of 1 million roubles (£20,000), Oleg Vorotnikov and his wife Natalia Sokol have requested a ban on further distribution of the film.

Tomorrow, by Andrei Gryazev, follows the couple as they hatch plans to overturn a police car in St Petersburg. It also captures more personal aspects of their life, including the treatment of their son Kasper. Vorotnikov and Sokol first expressed dissatisfaction with the film when it premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival in 2012. Their subsequent attempts to prevent the film from being shown at the Moscow International Film Festival last June ended in failure.

Speaking at the London Film Festival in October, Gryazev said the lawsuit was a cry for more attention. Voina, which means “war” in Russian, is a collective of artists and activists who engage in political protest across the country. The group gained international fame for its 60-metre penis drawn on a St Petersburg drawbridge, for which it won the Innovation prize for contemporary Russian art in 2011.