MOSCOW, September 20 (Itar-Tass) —— Prominent film director Alexei Uchitel believes that the decision to nominate Nikita Mikhalkov’s film “Burnt by the Sun 2” was subjective and hopes that the Russian Oscar Committee will be reformed.
“The decision has been made, but we are all people with subjective opinions,” Alexei Uchitel told Itar-Tass on Tuesday. His film “Krai”, too, was nominated for an Oscar award last year. “I personally believe that there were excellent films this year, first of all “Faust” directed by Alexander Sokurov and Andrei Zvyagintsev’s film “Yelena”, but Mikhalkov, certainly, should not be disregarded either,” the film director said.
“I realize that Mikhalkov is widely known, and he is known in America, too, so he has chances to win,” Uchitel believes. “But it seems to me that in selecting films for nomination for an Oscar award it is necessary to apply one objective criterion, the film’s success at international festivals. The film ‘Faust’ has won the prize in Venice, so it is strange to ignore it,” he said.
Uchitel holds that the Russian Oscar Committee needs to be reformed. “It includes worthy people, but, perhaps, it must have more participants, and the discussion of candidatures should be more open,” he said.
The Russian Oscar Committee on Monday nominated by the majority vote Nikita Mikhalkov’s film “Burnt by the Sun 2” for an Oscar award in the category “the best foreign-language film”. Vladimir Menshov, the committee’s chairman, however, disagreed with this choice and refused to sign the protocol.