14:00, 24 October 2017

Cinemas in Yeisk and Chechnya refuse to screen "Matilda"

Screenshot of the film "Matilda". Photo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvYBquWXbvU

The Cinema Centre "Premier" of the city of Yeisk, Krasnodar Territory, will not screen "Matilda", its director has stated. Chechnya has also refused to screen the resonant movie.

The film "Matilda" described a story about the fate of ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya, with whom future Russian emperor Nicholas II was in love. Critics of the film believe that the image created in "Matilda" does not correspond to the image of Emperor Nicholas II canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the all-Russian premiere of Alexei Uchitel's "Matilda" was scheduled for October 26.

The above "Premier" Cinema Centre made the decision fearing for spectators' safety, Nadezhda Dolzhenko, its director, reported on October 23.

"We preferred another repertoire; because of the resonance, we are concerned about our spectators' safety," Ms Dolzhenko said.

In Chechnya, the premiere of "Matilda" was cancelled on the initiative of film distributors; and the Chechen leadership has nothing to do with it, Khasan Datsaev, Deputy Director of the Trading-Entertainment Centre (TEC) "Grozny City", said on October 23.

Let us remind you that after the issuance of the screening certificate to "Matilda", Ramzan Kadyrov said that he would not prohibit the movie in Chechnya, since residents of the republic "would not waste time" for watching the "immoral" film.

"In our region, there are no bans on the 'Matilda' movie. This is a purely personal decision of film distributors," Khasan Datsaev said.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.