Armando Iannucci’s political satire The Death of Stalin won for best European comedy.
In turn, Cold War by Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski won best film, best director, best actress (Joanna Kulig) and best screenwriter at the 31st European Film Awards (EFAs), held on December 15, 2018 in Seville. It is a black-and-white drama telling a love story between a singer and a pianist, set in the 1950s in Poland, Berlin, Yugoslavia and Paris.
The Death of Stalin is a comic look at how Joseph Stalin’s stroke in 1953 threw the USSR into chaos and inspired a mad power grab among his top advisors.
Russia’s Culture Ministry revoked a film distribution certificate of the British satirical comedy. It was expected to premiere in Russia on January, 25.
Russian MPs and culture figures attended a private screening. Many of them were in favour of banning the movie. Earlier, Russian filmmakers sent a joint letter to the Minister of Culture with a request to drop the British movie from screens. They called The Death of Stalin ‘libel’.
Amid the scandal in Russia, the Ministry of Culture of Belarus suspended ticket pre-sale, but after taking a closer look at the black comedy, the Belarusian experts said that the film kept within the Belarusian law.
