EXCLUSIVE: As Roman Abramovich-backed Tchaikovsky’s Spouse unspools this week on the Cannes Movie Pageant, the French Ministry of Financial system and Finance has clarified its place concerning motion pictures backed by sanctioned oligarchs.
Whereas the ministry stated it couldn’t talk about particular circumstances or investigations, it instructed us: “It’s potential that the royalties introduced in by a movie will be frozen if the corporate that produced it’s situated in France or in a rustic of the European Union.”
The ministry added: “In accordance with the regulation, the property of Russian folks below European sanctions usually are not taken however frozen. It means they nonetheless personal their property however can’t dispose freely of them (so as, for instance, to promote them, to lease or get any financial advantages from them). They are often seized provided that they attempt to break the regulation (for instance, attempting to get a ship moored in a European port to depart).”
Cannes Competitors entry Tchaikovsky’s Spouse, the drama made by Russian dissident Kirill Serebrennikov earlier than the invasion of Ukraine, is a European co-production whose financiers embody Abramovich, in addition to French and Swiss entities. The movie is produced by arthouse champion Ilya Stewart (Petrov’s Flu), a Russian-Australian producer who now lives in France.
We perceive any royalties frozen by the French authorities on this undertaking — and you must wonder if they’d think about this price their whereas given the big sums and property they’ve targeting up to now — would solely relate to the funding made by Abramovich’s Kinoprime fund. Others would doubtless recoup first.
French gross sales agency Charades instructed us the corporate had not been contacted by the ministry however that it could adjust to any governmental orders concerning the Russian funding. The agency had no additional remark.
In yesterday’s press convention for Tchaikovsky’s Spouse, director Serebrennikov known as for sanctions to be lifted in opposition to Abramovich whom he described as a patron of the humanities.
In recent times, Abramovich has invested in a number of European arthouse movies by way of his $100M Kinoprime fund.
France final month seized the oligarch’s opulent mansion on the French Riviera as a part of European sanctions in opposition to the billionaire who initially made his cash within the oil sector. The Cap d’Antibes dwelling was one in all a dozen French properties seized from him by France in latest weeks in a bid to crack down on Vladimir Putin and his enablers following the invasion.
The UK has additionally drawn up sanctions in opposition to Abramovich (and different Russian billionaires), which have compelled him right into a sale of his beloved Chelsea soccer membership. The U.S. has additionally frozen Abramovich’s financial institution accounts.
Abramovich has been concerned in Ukrainian peace talks and was allegedly poisoned earlier this yr amid negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow.
Tchaikovsky’s Spouse follows the tumultuous relationship between Pyotr Tchaikovsky, some of the well-known Russian composers of all time, and his spouse Antonina Miliukova.
The Cannes Movie Pageant has imposed a ban on official Russian delegates this yr in addition to journalists from pro-Putin publications.
