The Russian Serebrennikov, banned from leaving Moscow, at the opening of the Avignon Festival – Orange News

AFP, published Thursday March 24, 2022 at 2:57 p.m. does not know for the moment if he will be present in Avignon. We of course wish it fervently”, explained to AFP the director of the festival Olivier Py, specifying that “the programming of this piece was decided there two years old, well before the Russian invasion of Ukraine”. In the Cour d’honneur of the Palais des Papes, the emblematic venue of the festival (July 7-26), the 52-year-old artist known for his daring creations, his support for LGBT+ and his indirect criticism of Vladimir Putin’s regime will present “The Black Monk”, based on a little-known short story by Anton Chekhov. He had already presented a preliminary version of this play in Hamburg in January, when he had obtained a surprise authorization to travel to Germany. In June 2020, Serebrennikov was sentenced for embezzlement to a three-year suspended prison sentence and a ban on leaving Russia during this period.