"If there is a dictator if there is a war for freedom, and if again, as then, everything depends on our unity, will cinema remain outside this unity?" - asked the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in his address to the participants and guests of the 75th Cannes Film Festival.
In his address, the President of Ukraine recalled that the first festival was to begin on 1 September 1939 in Cannes. But World War II broke out, and for six years, cinema was joining people on all its fronts. For six years, cinema has fought for freedom and, unfortunately, for the benefit of the dictatorship.
"The worst dictators of the 20th century loved cinema. We know this about them. But the most crucial thing left after them is the eerie documentary newsreel footage. And also films that challenged these dictators," - said the President.
He added that Charlie Chaplin's "The Great Dictator" did not destroy the real dictator in 1940. But thanks to him, the cinema stopped being dumb. Dumb in every sense of the word. Cinema was speaking, and it was the voice of the future victory of freedom.
In 1940, the screens read: "The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish…"
Since then, society has made many beautiful films. Then, finally, it seemed that everyone understood - you can conquer people with beautiful things by gathering them in front of the screens, and not with ugly, by gathering them in bomb shelters.
"But again, as then, there is a dictator. Again, as then, there is a war for freedom. Again, as then it is necessary that the cinema is not dumb," - said Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
He emphasized that not a week goes by without mass graves of killed and tortured people being found in the territory where russian troops stayed or still stay. The russian invasion killed two hundred twenty-nine children.
"You saw what the russian military did in the small town of Bucha. You saw Mariupol. Saw "Azovstal." You saw the city theater blown up by a russian bomb. By the way, it was similar to the one you are staying in now. Ordinary civilians were hiding there from the shelling. The word "Children" was written twice in large and prominent letters. It was written on the ground near the theater. We will never forget it because it is not even hell," - reminded Zelenskyy, the participants and guests of the film festival.
The President said that more than 2,000 russian missiles had already hit Ukraine. As a result, dozens of towns were completely destroyed, villages were burned, and more than 500,000 Ukrainians were deported to russia. In addition, tens of thousands of Ukrainians stay in russian camps that were created, taking Nazi camps as an example. No one knows how many prisoners will survive there. But everyone knows who is to blame.
Zelenskyy emphasized that Ukrainians will continue to fight; we have no other way but to fight for freedom.
But, people need to hear words from all the screens of the free world, as they did in 1940. We need a new Chaplin, who will prove now that cinema is no longer dumb.
The President of Ukraine suggested recalling how it sounded then:
"Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed.
We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want.
Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind.
We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness…
To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair... The hate of men will pass, and dictators die."
Today President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and announced that he was holding productive talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.