The World Cup in Russia has brought attention to injustices in the film world. Milos Stehlik discusses the case of a director imprisoned since 2014 under false pretenses in Russia. 

In a recent interview Facets founder and artistic director Milos Stehlik speaks with three preeminent figures of the film world from across Eastern Europe. On WEBZ’s Worldview hear from Askold Kurov a Russian documentary filmmaker who made a documentary about Sentsov’s sentencing, The Trial: The State of Russia vs. Oleg Sentsov (2017), Agnieszka Holland, chair of the European Film Academy and filmmaker herself, and finally Andriy Khalpakhchi, the director of the Molodist Film Festival in Kiev, Ukraine. 

Oleg Sentsov is a Ukrainian filmmaker who has become a hostage of Putin regime following the Russian-Ukrainian war and controversial annexation of Crimea where he resided. On August 25, 2015 Oleg was sentenced by a Northern Caucasian court in Russia to 20 years in prison for allegedly organizing a terrorist group associated with CIA-backed far-right nationalist political party Right Sector. He was accused of setting fire to the Office of the Russian Community of Crimea in 2014. Charges were also brought, three weeks after Sentsov’s arrest, over the destruction of windows at a branch of the pro-Putin organization United Russia in Simferopol, Ukraine. Sentsov denied that he is guilty and stated that his case is a politically motivated. His trial and a growing number of similar trials in Russia have drawn comparisons to show trials under Stalin. 

Oleg Sentsov’s first feature film Gamer (2011) is about computer game addiction, and is set in his hometown, Simferopol. It’s based on his own experience in the gaming industry. This film had achieved high critical acclaim and was shown in Rotterdam Film Festival. His following film, Rhino (2013), was left unfinished since the annexation of Crimea in Ukraine demanded Oleg’s participation. 

In the best Soviet Stalinist tradition, he was sent to a Siberian prison. He is in the second month of a hunger strike in solidarity with all Ukrainian political prisoners unlawfully held by Russian authorities. The European Parliament, European Film Academy or EFA, PEN International, and other institutions have called for his release to no avail but you can support the EFA campaign. 

Author: Usevalad Auramenka is enrolled at the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. His work includes experimental anti-art, avant-garde anti-art mini-festival organizing. He is originally from Minsk, Belarus.