“Roskompozor”: the newspaper “Yakutsk Vecherniy” is against the ban on Stepan Burnashev’s film “Aita”
The day before, a Yakut film was removed from online services at the request of Roskomnadzor. The agency accused the film of "demonstrating inequality based on ethnicity." "The positive aspects of heroes of one nationality are contrasted with the emphatically negative traits of heroes of another nationality.", Roskomnadzor explained.
While the director stated the opposite - the film's mission is to unite people.
"The story is precisely about how dividing people into 'us' and 'them' can lead to tragedy. In any situation, even a tragic one, one must find the strength to engage in dialogue to uncover the truth, rather than making sweeping accusations simply because someone comes from a different culture. With my film, I wanted to show what disunity between peoples can lead to.", — he explained. Stepan Burnashev in an interview with Vedomosti.
The film "Ayta" centers on the suicide of a 16-year-old girl in a small Yakut village; the film is named after the main character. Ayta left a note, "Afonya, I hate you!" Rumors quickly spread throughout the area, and a hunch grows into certainty: Ayta's death is the work of a Russian police officer, Afanasy, who was driving her the evening of her death. An armed crowd demands reprisals.
The film was released in Russia on March 30, 2023. It became the highest-grossing film in the history of Yakut cinema, grossing 26,4 million rubles against a budget of 4 million.
