With rightful pride, Christian Estrosi presented yesterday this new event, the first Russian Cinema Festival in Nice, which is expected to become a major cultural event in the coming years. Indeed, for the first time in France, audiences will be able to watch original films from the archives of Gosfilmofond, the Russian State Film Fund.
“Our partnership with Gosfilmofond will allow film enthusiasts to dive into the heart of Russian and Soviet film creation, from silent cinema to the early days of sound, from the Stalinist period to the post-communist era.”
For the city of Nice, this cinematic commemoration of the 400th anniversary of the Romanov House is a symbol of the links, both past and present, that unite Nice and Russia. Heritage, economic, tourist, and emotional presence—all marked a beautiful relationship,” declared the mayor, who was joined by the Russian ambassador to France, Mr. Alexandre Orlov, and Gérard Depardieu, who returned to France to promote… Russian cinema!
Nicolaï Borodatchev, the director of Gosfilmofond (the body that manages Russia’s public film archives), presented the program:
“Our film festival is titled ‘The Romanovs and Russia.’ Our screenings are mainly dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the rise of the House of Romanov. This event is widely celebrated in Russia.
A prophecy that will be applied throughout the entire 20th century: Cinema stands as a new chronicler. The films in our program cover the pre-revolutionary, Soviet, and contemporary eras. Each film has already become a rarity and a document bearing witness to its time, whether they are feature films, animated films, or film news.”
But, of course, all the attention was on the actor, who wore on his jacket’s lapel a badge in the colors of the Republic of Chechnya (!).
Let us recall that Gérard Depardieu wished to expatriate to Belgium and surrender his French passport to protest against the 75% taxation of the wealthiest. An act that sparked widespread controversies and declarations from all sides regarding this alleged tax evasion.
However, the course of the project quickly changed, and the actor finally became a Russian citizen last January.
Satisfied with his new identity, he stated that he appreciated his new life in Russia: “I live in Mordovia at 1 Democracy Street, at the corner of Bolshevism Boulevard, and I feel very good there. What I see over there does not correspond at all to what is said and written here,” he declared, looking at the media representatives with an accusatory smile.
To conclude with this striking phrase: “I am a traveler and consider myself a citizen of the world.”
While no one can doubt the talent of this artist with international popularity and renown, a doubt remains about his confused definition of democracy and the behaviors and values that should embody it.
It is therefore with consternation that one sees someone who was the outstanding performer of Danton in Andrzej Wajda’s homonymous film in 1983, thirty years later, endorse the “model of democracy” of the president of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, who holds this North Caucasus territory with an iron grip, to the point of being the producer and actor of a film about the (undoubtedly glorified) life of his father Akhmad, who seized power by force before being assassinated by separatist rebels.
It should be noted that Gérard Depardieu had already shown, a few years ago, a strong admiration for Fidel Castro and the Cuban regime, to the point of investing (unfortunately unsuccessfully) in oil in the 1990s and being a distinguished guest at the 80th birthday of the “lider maximo” in 2006.
Castro, Putin, Karimov… We’ve seen better “models” of democrats! Sometimes, casualness is not enough to erase the symbols.
Except to properly interpret Alphonse de Lamartine’s definition: “There is no more complete man than one who has traveled a lot, who has changed the form of his thought and life twenty times.”
