Sergei Loznitsa: Between Two Fronts

The Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa makes films like DONBASS, while also strongly positioning himself against Putin's war. He was nonetheless expelled from the Ukrainian Film Academy. An article in the German newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung titled "Away with the Cosmopolitan" summarizes the recent turmoil surrounding the Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa. After his fierce criticism of Putin's war of aggression, he left the European Film Academy, citing the institution's lack of a clear stance on Russian aggression. At the same time, however, Loznitsa wanted to prevent a blanket ban on all films from Russia from international screens - and as a self-confessed "cosmopolitan" did not want to join the chorus of nationalists. The nuances that the Ukrainian Film Academy did not want to concede to him are why they sought to expel Loznitsa, who lost two film academy memberships within a very short time. These nuances can be found in his feature film DONBASS from 2018, which consists of 13 rather loosely linked chapters describes the conflict between Ukraine and the Russian-backed separatists of the Donetsk People's Republic in the mid-2010s. If you’re looking for a deeper insight into developments apart from the news about Ukraine in recent years, you’ll find it here.