The Board of the European Film Academy wishes to express its deepest concern about the Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov being placed under house arrest and calls for his immediate release.
 
Kirill Serebrennikov, one of the most prominent Russian theatre and film directors who was part of the EFA Selection 2013 with BETRAYAL (Izmena) and 2016 with THE STUDENT (Uchenik), for which Ilya Demutsky received the award European Composer 2016, and whose films were presented at festivals like Cannes, Venice and Locarno, was charged with fraud, detained in Moscow and placed under house arrest. This means that he is unable to continue his work as an artist, both at the Gogol Theatre in Moscow and to finish his film in St. Petersburg.
 
There is every reason to believe that Kirill Serebrennikov's arrest is politically motivated and the EFA Board respectfully calls upon the Russian authorities to have the detained released immediately and unconditionally and to guarantee his free movement and artistic expression.
 
Berlin, 23 August 2017