Armed Russian police have raided an arthouse cinema in Moscow that defied a government ban on the screening of Armando Iannucci’s dark comedy The Death of Stalin.
Six police officers and a number of plainclothes officials arrived at the Pioner cinema on Friday after the midday screening of the film, which revolves around the bitter infighting after the death of Joseph Stalin in 1953. Officers would only confirm that they were carrying out an investigation.
Plainclothes officials questioned staff and collected evidence that the film had been shown. Pioner management declined to comment on the raid, but staff insisted that further scheduled screenings of the film would go ahead.
Pioner later announced that it was scrapping all further scheduled screenings for reasons beyond its control. It added that all further questions should be directed to the culture ministry.
The raid came just days after the ministry abruptly withdrew permission for the film’s release on the eve of its scheduled 25 January nationwide premiere, after government officials and pro-Kremlin cultural figures had attended a private viewing.
The ministry said any cinemas that showed the film would face fines and even temporary closure.
An advisory committee to the ministry recommended that the film be postponed to avoid clashing with the 75th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Stalingrad, a key turning point in the second world war. Pavel Pozhigailo, a committee member, said the film insulted Russia’s “historic symbols – the Soviet anthem, orders and medals” and called it “blasphemous”. Officials said the film would be examined for “extremism” in comings weeks.
Oleg Berezin, the head of the Association of Cinema Owners, which represents independent cinemas in Russia, said the withdrawal of the film’s distribution licence was illegal. “There has not been any court decision about this,” he said.
The ban comes amid Stalin’s renewed popularity in Russia. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, said last year that western countries were using the “excessive demonisation” of Stalin to attack Russia. In June, Russians named Stalin the “most outstanding person” in world history in a poll carried out by the Levada Centre, an independent polling firm in Moscow.
The row has increased interest in the film. Tickets for its 10-day run at the Pioner quickly sold out after the cinema screened it for the first time on Thursday evening.
“I was 13 when Stalin died and I knelt down and wept,” said 78-year-old Oleg, who managed to secure a ticket for a screening on 30 January. “They taught us that Stalin was a god. Then, later, when [Mikhail] Gorbachev was in power, they told us he was a murderer and a destroyer of our nation. Now they are telling us again how great he is. I want to see what this director thinks.”
Opinions differed as to the movie’s merits among those who had attended Friday’s screening.
“The film is good enough. But the period of Stalin’s rule was much more terrifying than this film depicts. Stalin was still alive when I was born, and my parents later told me all about what they had been through,” said Yelena.
“This film mocks my country,” said Alexander, a middle-aged man. “It’s a warped western view of the Stalin years.”
