MOSCOW, September 27. /TASS/. Russia’s Oscar Committee and the presidium of the National Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, which earlier decided not to nominate a film from Russia for the Oscars, need to hold a meeting immediately, renowned film director Alexey Uchitel told TASS on Tuesday.
"It’s not clear to me yet what’s going on," Uchitel said. "All committee members received a list of movies eligible for nomination and meeting dates were being discussed. But all of a sudden, the news broke. I think that they did an unethical thing, to put it mildly," he added. According to the film director, Russia needs to nominate an entry for the Academy Awards. "In the current situation, we should show that Russia’s film industry still exists, and we should nominate a movie," the filmmaker noted.
A source told TASS earlier that the long list of Russia’s potential Oscar entries included 122 pictures. The Russian Oscar committee was expected to nominate the country’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards in the fall of 2022.
Russia has so far won the Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film three times, the winners including Sergey Bondarchuk’s War and Peace (1968), Vladimir Menshov’s Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears (1981) and Nikita Mikhalkov’s Burnt by the Sun (1994).
The 95th Academy Awards ceremony will take place on March 12, 2023.