“No Looking Back” premiered at the South by Southwest film festival in Austin, Texas, last weekend. It was cut from the lineup at the Cleveland International Film Festival that gets under way later this month.
The movie from Russia is a black comedy about an ex-convict trying to reclaim her daughter by force. It is one of many artistic exports now being re-examined in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin’s siege of Ukraine is forcing all types of cultural institutions to wrestle with their role as platforms for artists representing Russia, from current filmmakers and classical-music stars to timeless greats like Tchaikovsky. As governments enforce sanctions on the Russian government and corporations break with Russian businesses, arts groups are facing a similar question: Should they cut ties or not?
These decisions are testing art’s historic role as a bridge between rival nations. Caught in the middle are artists from Russia who face harassment and potential persecution by their government if they speak out against their country’s invasion of Ukraine.
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The Cleveland festival cited funding sources in Russia as the reason for scratching two films. South by Southwest said it kept several movies by Russian filmmakers in the lineup to “support creative voices from around the world.”
Premier institutions in the West moved quickly to halt partnerships with state-sponsored groups and superstars aligned with the Putin regime. Maestro Valery Gergiev, whose backing of the Russian president made him controversial in the classical world for years, was removed from concert bookings and posts, including head conductor of the Munich Philharmonic. He couldn’t be reached for comment.
Other actions have been more symbolic. In Illinois, the Peoria Symphony Orchestra’s revision of a “Russian Wonders” concert in April involved a new title, “Unity With Ukraine,” and swapping out a Russian (Rachmaninoff) for a German (Beethoven) on the program. The Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra in Wales said it removed some Tchaikovsky pieces from a recent program because of their tone, including the militaristic “1812 Overture.”
When the Metropolitan Opera broke ties with soprano Anna Netrebko earlier this month, it was over her failure to repudiate her longstanding support of Mr. Putin, the New York institution said. The singer wrote that she opposed the war in Ukraine, but added, “forcing artists, or any public figure, to voice their political opinions in public and to denounce their homeland is not right.” A representative for Ms. Netrebko declined to comment.
Cultural institutions in the West cut ties with conductor Valery Gergiev and opera singer Anna Netrebko over their support for President Vladimir Putin, seen here in 2013 with the musicians in St. Petersburg.
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The Russian film ‘No Looking Back’ has been cut by some film festivals but welcomed by others.
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Cultural exchanges during the Cold War included pianist Vladimir Horowitz’s visit to the Soviet Union in 1986.
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Peter Gelb, general manager of the Met, said in an interview that he had been personally uncomfortable with Ms. Netrebko’s public support for Putin in the past, “but it wasn’t in the context of Putin killing people, so it was different.”
The Met, which mounted a benefit concert for Ukraine on Monday, was obligated to take “a strong moral position,” Mr. Gelb said, but only against artists and institutions connected to the Kremlin. “We’re not asking Russian artists to sign affidavits of their political viewpoints. We’re not interrogating anybody,” he said.
Mr. Gelb noted that several Russian performers are rehearsing for the Met’s March 25 opening of “Eugene Onegin,” Tchaikovsky’s opera based on an Alexander Pushkin novel, starring Russian baritone Igor Golovatenko in the title role.
The international career of Alexander Malofeev, a 20-year-old Russian pianist, took a hit from recent cancellations in Canada.
The Montreal Symphony Orchestra withdrew Mr. Malofeev from a three-concert run with conductor Michael Tilson Thomas scheduled to begin last week, saying it would be “inappropriate” to present the pianist. A post on Mr. Malofeev’s Facebook page said the concerts were canceled “due to political reasons.” Representatives for the orchestra and Mr. Malofeev didn’t respond to requests for additional comment.
The pianist expressed anguish in various Facebook posts. He referred to the war as a “terrible and bloody decision,” but said he felt uncomfortable about the pressure he was getting to make statements about the war, noting the potential for repercussions for his family in Russia.
“I still believe Russian culture and music specifically should not be tarnished by the ongoing tragedy, though it is impossible to stay aside now,” he wrote, adding, “Honestly, the only thing I can do now is to pray and cry.”
Russia’s standing puts arts patrons and presenters in a quandary. Some who believe in art’s ability to transcend geopolitics want to support performers from a country that criminalizes dissent. Others say that the kind of sanctions imposed on Russian businesses should also apply to artists from Russia who haven’t denounced the war.
“It’s unreasonable to ask that kind of heroism from people. At the same time, that doesn’t give a person the right to play in a big hall with a big orchestra and advance their career. Not while people are dying,” says Leon Botstein, president of Bard College and artistic director of the Bard Music Festival. The summer festival will revolve, as previously planned, around Sergei Rachmaninoff, the anti-Bolshevik composer who left Russia following the 1917 revolution.
During the Cold War, cultural exchanges provided a rare bridge between communist nations and the West. The Met’s Mr. Gelb managed Vladimir Horowitz when the pianist returned to the Soviet Union in 1986 after 61 years for an internationally televised recital.
Now the Met has broken off a standing production partnership with Russia’s state-sponsored Bolshoi Theatre.
“Putin is destroying people’s lives in front of the whole world, and cultural exchange can’t go on in that kind of context,” Mr. Gelb says.
For one troupe of ballet dancers, an unofficial cultural exchange is happening as they perform “Swan Lake” in theaters across Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Colorado and Wyoming.
Founded as the Russian Ballet Theatre in 2015, the independent touring company rebranded itself as RBT earlier this month. Its name, referring to the classical style of ballet, mistakenly led some to believe that it had an official connection to the Russian government. That prompted some people to target the group on social media, RBT’s Gulya Hartwick says. The Latvia-raised, Los Angeles-based producer says the renaming was also a symbolic gesture: “The word [Russia] resonates in a different way, causing too much pain.”
The 50-member troupe, including dancers from Ukraine and Russia, has had no cancellations. Instead, Ms. Hartwick says, audiences are warmer than ever. At a recent stop in Monroe, La., local artists sold ballet-themed pieces at the theater as a fundraiser for Ukraine. RBT begins performances by projecting the message “We dance for peace” on the curtain.
“Everyone in the cast and the crew has their story. To our company, it’s very deeply personal,” Ms. Hartwick says.
Talal Ansari contributed to this article.
Write to John Jurgensen at John.Jurgensen@wsj.com
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