CHECHEN FILM FESTIVAL ENCOUNTERS OBSTACLES

The organizers of a film festival on Chechnya have accused the Russian secret services of intimidating a movie theater in downtown Moscow into canceling its previous agreement to host the free screenings. Yury Samodurov, head of the Andrei Sakharov Center in the Russian capital, told an October 1 press conference that, in his opinion, “the Kinocenter has come under pressure from the FSB, since these films touch on the work of the FSB.” The film festival, which includes controversial documentaries about the activities of the FSB and of the Russian military in Chechnya, had previously been presented in Washington, New York and London.

Samodurov’s Sakharov Center hastily offered itself as a substitute venue for the film festival, but its own auditorium has only ninety seats–far short of the demand.