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Tribeca Film Festival organizers don't want to show Russian film about Pushkin

The sponsor of the festival, Russian gas giant Gazprom, says the US stance is politically motivated

MOSCOW, March 13. /ITAR-TASS/. Organizers of the US film festival Tribeca are dragging feet in talks with Russia’s Gazprom monopoly about the screening of the Russian film Pushkin Is Our Everything. According to Sergei Kupriyanov, the press secretary of Gazprom’s CEO, the US stance is politically motivated.

The gas company had plans to sponsor Tribeca and to carry out the first screening of a documentary about Russian literature classic Alexander Pushkin. The work on the film is now nearing completion. The organizers have now “back-pedaled”, Kupriyanov told the Izvestia daily.

Meanwhile, Gazprom’s contacts with the festival have already drawn criticism from the State Duma. A legislator from the ruling party United Russia, Valery Trapeznikov, said the Russian company should be “more patriotic” given the situation in Crimea. His colleague Alexander Sudyakin also recommended that Gazprom should revise it plans for cooperation with the Americans.

Tribeca Film Festival founded in 2002 by Robert de Niro and producers Jane Rosenthal and Craig Hatkoff is held annually in New York. Organizers aim to redefine cinema’s influence on society and promote independent cinematography. This year the festival is scheduled for April 16-27.