Independent film festival 2morrow refused funding

The organisers of one of Russia’s leading independent film festivals, 2morrow, have appealed to the international film community for financial support after the festival’s usual sponsors – the Ministry of Culture and the Moscow Department of Culture – have refused funding.

Without funding from the event’s two key sponsors, 2morrow is unlikely to go ahead this year. “As of today, the Ministry of Culture [and] the Moscow Department of Culture haven’t confirmed their support. It can only mean on thing – a silent refusal to let 2morrow go ahead,” said two festival organisers, actress and producer Olga Dykhovichnaya and director Angelina Nikonova.

Responding to a statement from the culture ministry, which claims that the festival’s request for funding was never received, 2morrow’s director Dykhovichnaya said: “This just isn’t right. We sent through our request on 29 November 2013.”

In an open letter addressed to the international film community, the festival’s organisers called for support to ensure that the event can continue as planned, warning that Russia could be “isolated from world culture behind yet another iron curtain”.

The letter reads: “At a time when there is a war on, in which all of us one way or another are involved, it may seem like the termination of a film festival may seem only a trifle. But during times of war, the muses shouldn’t fall silent. We need to not get bogged down in hatred for each other […] we need to safeguard some space which facilitates the meeting of cultures, meeting of people and meeting of films.”

Source: The Hollywood Reporter