Netflix Halts Future Russian Productions
Los Angeles, March 3: Post Russia’s Ukraine invasion, Netflix has halted production for all upcoming Russian language serials on the streaming platform. The streaming giant has paused all future acquisitions from the country amid the ongoing crisis.
The streamer had four Russian series in the works: Zato, a Neo-noir detective drama; Anna K, a contemporary retelling of Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina that would be Netflix’s first Russian original series.
Also Nothing Special, a drama about a young actor working at a charity for people with disabilities; and a fourth untitled series.
According to Hollywood Reporter, Netflix had said that it would not carry any Russian state channels. “Given the current situation, we have no plans to add these channels to our service”, a Netflix spokesperson said.
However, according to a new Russian law which went into effect on Monday, Netflix was added to Russia’s “audiovisual services” sector, and those which are so included in the category and consist of more than 100,000 users oblige all its members including state-owned media to comply with the broadcast regulations set by the Russian government.
This includes carrying 20 major Russian federal TV channels which are known to often broadcast pro-Putin propaganda. A source close to Netflix said that the company was assessing the impact of current events.
On Monday Walt Disney announced it will similarly be pausing all theatrical releases in Russia, including Pixar’s ‘Turning Red’, set to premiere in the country on March 10 while a few hours after the announcement, Warner Bros. halted the release of ‘The Batman’ in Russia.
Elsewhere in the film and TV industry, Russia has been barred from several major festivals and award shows, such as the Cannes Film Festival announcing on Tuesday that it will disbar all Russian delegations or attendees with ties to the government, with Series Mania Festival and MipTV affirming that there won’t be any Russian presence at their respective events, in accordance with the French government’s sanction against Russia.
In addition on Monday, the Beinnale arts exhibition in Venice scrapped its Russian pavilion, as the Venice Film Festival continues to mull its response to calls for a boycott of Russian movies at the event.
The Glasgow Film Festival in Scotland took a similar stance, decided to pull its two Russian titles this year: Kirill Sokolov’s ‘No Looking Back’ and Lado Kvataniya’s ‘The Execution’.
Switzerland’s Locarno Film Festival, on the other hand, announced it would show Russian films at its upcoming edition in August.
