Nick Cunningham

“I’m asking for support of our boycott of Russian cinema at all international film events and all international organizations until [the] Russian government will end up in [the] Hague,” writes Denis Ivanov, producer of Sergei Loznitsa’s Donbass and Oleg Sentsov’s Rhino. “No more ‘business as usual’ with Putin’s Russia.”

Production on the 3-part series Ronnie Biggs’ Rio - No One is Innocent, about the UK’s most notorious bank robber, has commenced in Rio. Marking the 60th anniversary of the Great Train Robbery in 1963, the series will focus mainly on Biggs’ time in Brazil over three colourful decades (1970-2001) during which he transformed from one of the world’s most wanted men into a global pop icon, after recording with the Sex Pistols and many other artists.

Twenty one docs are selected for Glasgow Film Festival (March 2-13), five of which have a particularly Caledonian flavour. “What we try and do is program without prejudice,” GFF co-director Allison Gardner tells Business Doc Europe. “It doesn't have to be a world premiere, it doesn't have to be a UK premiere. We try and look for great films that we know audiences will engage with and that applies across the whole program as well as the documentary strand.”

Trafalgar Releasing will bring Andrew Dominik’s This Much I Know to be True, featuring Nick Cave & Warren Ellis, to cinemas worldwide this May, following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. Tickets will go on sale on 23 March for the 11 May “global cinema event,” says the company.

David France’s new doc How to Survive a Pandemic will world premiere March 10 at Greece’s leading doc event. Blind Ambition, by Warwick Ross and Rob Coe, about the first-ever Zimbabwe team to compete in The World Wine Blind Tasting Championships, will close the festival.

EFA joins the Ukrainian Film Academy in the boycott of Russian Films and “unequivocally” condemns the war, the organisation writes in a statement March 1. “We are fully aware that several of our members are fighting with arms against the aggressor. The Academy will therefore exclude Russian films from this year's European Film Awards and we lend our support to each element of the boycott.”

76 world premieres and 59 competition titles among the 200 new films offered up within 6 international competitions. “CPH:DOX is ready to present the full film programme with a diverse selection of films of artistic quality and contemporary relevance,” says the fest. Several films focusing on Ukraine and Russia will premiere in CPH:DOX’s main competition, Dox:Award.

The dramatic portrait of volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft will kick off this year’s edition 7 April. “It is a pleasure to open the 53rd edition of Visions du Réel with a film that sends out such a strong signal. Indeed, we are working on a shimmering and sparkling festival, with a line-up that encompasses human existences and forms that are in tune with our audience’s expectations,” says fest chief Emilie Bujès.

“We stand with the Ukrainian people and ask that the response of the international community will be adequate and Putin's hostile act will not go unpunished. No country has the right to violate the borders of a sovereign state under the pretext of any lie. This is an attack on democracy,” the letter underlines.

The European Film Academy has written to all Ukrainian members to offer its support following the Russian invasion of February 24 2022. “On behalf of the community of over 4,200 members of the European Film Academy, we want to express our solidarity with you,” the organisation writes. “Rest assured we stand behind you, supporting your work in the best way we can.”