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Sergei Loznitsa: ‘I have no sympathy for those who are going to kill’

This year, the latest film “The Natural History of Destruction” by director Sergei Loznitsa was screened at the Cannes Film Festival. It is a documentary made entirely from archive materials, inspired by the book of the same name by the German writer VG Zebald. One of its essays tells of the planned mass bombing of German cities by the Allies during World War II. The film was conceived a long time ago, but was completed with the new, horrific Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Sergei Loznic, a Ukrainian director of Belarusian descent, calls himself a world citizen. He is a regular guest on the red carpets of European film festivals, but his films, both documentaries and feature films, deal with difficult historical themes and human destinies. Several films have also been made in Latvia.

During Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Loznitsa gained the fame of a controversial artist. Shortly after the start of the war, he strongly and categorically condemned Russia’s aggression. Already on February 28 this year, Loznica resigned from the ranks of the members of the European Film Academy, because the leading institution of European cinema had not yet expressed solidarity with Ukraine. A day later, when the European Film Academy announced that Russian films would not be eligible for the European Film Academy Award, Loznicz was puzzled by the decision. “Many of my friends and colleagues in Russia are against this insane war. They are the same victims of the aggressor as we are,” the director said in March this year. He said the man was talking about his actions, not his passport.

In a few weeks, Loznica fell Ukraine at the mercy of the Academy and was expelled from its ranks. The reason is the refusal to boycott Russian films. In addition, Loznica’s works were shown during the war at the Russian film festival “From Lviv to the Urals” in Nantes, France.

“Now that Ukraine is defending its independence with all its might, the national identity of every Ukrainian must be of paramount importance. There can be no compromise here,” the Ukrainian Film Academy said in a statement. The director responded to the message by calling the Ukrainian Film Academy a Nazi “gift to Russian propagandists.”

Delphi had the opportunity to meet the director in Cannes to talk about both his latest film and his relationship with Russian culture.

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