Berlin

The current Belarusian government has triggered a socio-political and human rights crisis in their country and has been instrumental in attacking and eradicating contemporary Belarusian culture for a long time.

In response to the constant threat of persecution, imprisonment and torture of independent artists living in Belarus, as well as a need to leave the country in order to continue working without state repression and in accordance with freedom of expression, a group of independent Belarusian filmmakers in exile are now uniting in an independent Belarusian Film Academy (BIFA) to give a voice to independent artists from Belarus who work in the film industry.

The association was created taking into account the experience of film academies of other European countries, and has already received the support of the European Film Academy.

“We consider the establishment of the Belarusian Independent Film Academy a very timely and necessary undertaking. The European Film Academy is keen to promote the integration ofindependent Belarusian cinema further into the general European film community. Our Belarusian friends need our support in Europe: we will help establish contacts with European film institutes, film funds and film markets. We will soon welcome the Belarusian Independent Film Academy as a new member of the Association of European Film Academies”, – says the CEO and Director of the European Film Academy, Matthijs Wouter Knol.

The founding group of the independent film academy:

Volia Chajkouskaya (producer, director, festival founder), Aliaksei Paluyan (film director), Darya Zhuk (film director), Irena Kaciałovič (film critic), Andrei Kutsila (documentary film director), Igor Soukmanov (senior programmer and consultant) comments:

‘The idea of creating an organization was born after the beginning of the war in Ukraine in 2022. More than 130 Belarusian filmmakers signed a collective statement  on March 1^st 2022 condemning Russia's military aggression against Ukraine at that time. Since then, we all continued to face challenges individually and felt that we should unite in solidarity to form a unified front. All this prompted us to create a legal structure that could speak on behalf of independent Belarusian filmmakers with one voice.’

On Friday, February 17, 2023, at 11.30 a.m, the founding members will introduce their plans for the Belarusian Independent Film Academy for the first time: They will outline their initiative as well as introducing first projects in the works.

The event is held in close cooperation and partnership with the EFM and reknown film academies plus industry organisations, represented at the event by: 

European Film Market director Dennis Ruh, European Film Academy director Matthijs Wouter Knol and German Films Managing Director Simone Baumann.

The BIFA founding group members will also be present during the EFM at the Marriott hotel, stand no. 126, first floor. 

READ THE FULL STATEMENT

Read the statement below in full.

Dear Ukrainians, Dear international community, dear fellow filmmakers, We, Belarusian film community, strongly condemn the Russian military aggression against Ukraine. We are outraged that the Russian aggressor uses our territory for launching deadly missiles to Ukraine.
Many Belarusian filmmakers were welcomed and supported in Ukraine after the repressions we suffered in 2020. We express our strong solidarity with the brave Ukrainian nation that fearlessly fights for the freedom of their country. As art people we clearly see the difference between the good and the evil.

There is no place for evil in real life.
We demand Russian troops to leave the territory of Ukraine and Belarus.
We demand to stop  the war immediately.

Slava Ukraini!