The Pasaka cinema in Vilnius canceled a lecture by film critic Anton Dolin on the results of the year, which he was going to give on December 14, and a screening of his film, scheduled for December 15. Dolin moved the lecture to another venue, but it was canceled there too.
Initially, Dolin’s lecture was to be held at the Pasaka Cinema. However, on December 13, the film critic reported about the cancellation of the event at the initiative of the site and moved the lecture to another place – the hall of the Vilnius Technopark.
On December 14, just a few hours before the start, the technology park also canceled the lecture. “Venue No. 2 also canceled the event without explanation. We apologize to everyone whose expectations were disappointed, but this is not our fault,” Dolin wrote.
Along with the lecture, Pasaka Cinema also canceled the screening of Sergei Loznitsa’s film “Babi Yar. Context”, which was supposed to take place on December 15. On it, Dolin planned a meeting with the author of the picture.
After the lecture and screening were cancelled, Pasaka Cinema published Facebook post explaining the reasons. “We have received information about Anton Dolin’s views on the distribution of films related to Russia in legal and human terms. Films associated with Russia through companies created in other countries should not be included in the cinema’s repertoire,” the post says.
The administration writes that, having “evaluated the information received and faced with negative comments from spectators and other market participants,” it contacted the organizers of the event and returned the rent.
Also in this post, the cinema administration mentions screenings of Hayao Miyazaki’s film “The Boy and the Bird” in Estonia and Latvia, in which Dolin will take part. “In Lithuania, at the Pasaka cinema, we decided not to show this film due to the connections of the film’s copyright holders with Russia,” writes the administration, without specifying whether this was the reason for the cancellation of Dolin’s lecture.
