05 September 2015, 09:03
Georgian filmmakers expressed support for Oleg Sentsov
The National Centre of Cinematography of Georgia has expressed support for the film director Oleg Sentsov, sentenced to long imprisonment on terrorism charges.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on August 25 the Ukrainian film director Oleg Sentsov and the ecologist Alexander Kolchenko were found guilty of terrorism and sentenced to 20 and 10 years in a high-security colony, accordingly.
Oleg Sentsov and Alexander Kolchenko were charged with establishment of the Crimean unit of the organization "Right Sector" banned in Russia and with terror acts, namely, setting on fire the offices of the public organization "Russian Community of Crimea" and the representative office of the "Edinaya Rossiya" (United Russia) Party in Simferopol. Both defendants claimed being beaten after the detention to confess to the crimes.
"We join the globally launched campaign – 'Freedom to Oleg Sentsov!' – and call on Putin to release his personal prisoner," the "Georgia-Online" quotes the statement of the above Centre of Cinematography.
Earlier, the 68th Cannes Film Festival held a ten-day-long solidarity action with Sentsov, organized by the Guild of French Filmmakers and the European Film Academy.
"Aggression against Oleg Sentsov is an aggression against all filmmakers around the world," said the appeal to Russian authorities demanding to release Sentsov.
The appeal was signed by 108 French film directors, among them: the laureates of the "Palme d'Or" of the Cannes Festival Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Laurent Kante, the President of the French Cinematheque Costa Gavras, and film directors Jacques Audiard, Catherine Breillat and Bertrand Tavernier.
A release of Oleg Sentsov was also demanded by Pedro Almodovar, Agnieszka Holland, Wim Wenders and Mike Leigh. The Festivals in Venice, San Sebastian and Warsaw included Sentsov into their juries, by symbolically leaving an "empty armchair" for him; and at the Berlinale, the release of Oleg Sentsov was demanded at the official press conference, the Radio Liberty reports.
Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.
