Exiled Russian director Andrey Zviaguintsev called on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end “the butchery” as he accepted his Grand Prize for Minotaur at the 79th Cannes Film Festival.
“Millions of people on both sides of the front line dream of only one thing: for the massacres to stop,” he said in Russian to the packed auditorium for the awards ceremony, which was streamed live worldwide.
“The only person who can stop this carnage is the President of the Russian Federation. Put an end to this slaughter; the whole world is waiting for it,” he said.
A skilful expose of corruption and self-preservation in contemporary Russia, Minotaur unfolds in the early days of Russia’s War in Ukraine, as the government seizes manpower and resources for the war effort.
Dmitriy Mazurov plays successful company director Gleb, whose seemingly perfect life starts to unravel, not necessarily due to the conflict but rather his suspicions that his wife (Iris Lebedeva) is having an affair.
Zvyagintsev was previously in Cannes with Loveless in 2017 which won the Jury Prize and went on to be nominated for an Oscar. He has had a torrid time in between. He nearly died from Covid during the pandemic and then found himself living in exile in France after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022
