Exiled Russian director returns to Cannes, decries war

By JAKE COYLE
AP Film Writer

CANNES, France (AP) — The Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov, one of the few Russian filmmakers at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, says “art is always against war.” His comments to The Associated Press Wednesday came a day after the festival opened with a video address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. After several years living under a travel ban in Russia, Serebrennikov fled Russia in March. Serebrennikov was in Cannes Wednesday to premiere his latest film, “Tchaikovsky’s Wife.” It’s a period film that challenges state propaganda, which has attempted to hide that the famous Russian composer was homosexual. In 2013, Russia enacted a law banning “gay propaganda.”