Kirill Serebrennikov barred from Cannes again amid Russian travel ban

Kirill Serebrennikov, the Russian filmmaker, is barred from traveling, which will prevent him from attending the Cannes Film Festival for the second consecutive year, as confirmed by his lawyer, Dmitri Kharitonov. This travel restriction will remain in effect throughout 2023. Previously, in 2018, Serebrennikov was also unable to attend when his film Leto (Summer) was nominated for the Palme d’Or. He received a suspended sentence of three years after being accused of misappropriating around £1.25 million (129 million rubles) from government funds at the Gogol Center, which he oversees. Advocates claim the charges are politically driven, linked to his artistic themes. Human Rights Watch has urged the Russian authorities to dismiss the allegations, viewing them as a form of retaliation against political dissent. This year, Serebrennikov’s film Petrov’s Flu, based on Alexei Salnikov's 2018 novel, is scheduled to premiere at Cannes.