Ivanov: In all European countries the state is responsible for culture, and not for show business and commercial television
Photo from Ivanov’s archive
On the YouTube channel “Dmitry Gordon” it turned out interview of actor and director Viktor Poltoratsky with Ukrainian film producer, founder and head of the Arthouse Traffic film company and co-founder of the Odessa International Film Festival Denis Ivanov.
In an interview, Ivanov spoke about:
how he accepted the occupation of Crimea and part of Donbass in 2014, and then a full-scale invasion in 2022; how many Russian artists protested against the occupation of Ukrainian territories; Ukrainian film “20 days in Mariupol”, which was nominated for an Oscar; the position of the Russian director Alexander Sokurov, who is still a member of the Human Rights Council under the President of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin; the relationship between director Kirill Serebrennikov and Russian ideologist and former Putin aide Vladislav Surkov; how, after the arrest of director Oleg Sentsov, he wrote to many Russian colleagues calling on them to do something: “Not a single one raised a voice”; cultural policy during the war; state financing of TV series and the scandal in which TV presenter Yuri Gorbunov got into and his connections with businessman Igor Kolomoisky; the meanness of Russian “culture” and the struggle for its exclusion from the programs of international film festivals.
Denis Ivanov was born on July 22, 1978 in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region. He graduated from Donetsk State University with a degree in political science and London’s Islington College of Arts, where he received a master’s degree in black and white photography.
He is a co-founder of the Odessa International Film Festival and the Children’s Film Festival for children and teenagers. He runs the film company Arthouse Traffic. Member of the European Film Academy and the National Union of Cinematographers of Ukraine.
