The Zurich Film Festival (ZFF) said on Thursday it had dropped a public screening of the controversial documentary "Russians at War" from its programme, citing "safety reasons".
"Russians at War" sparked outrage when it was first shown at the Venice film festival earlier this month, with some accusing the film of towing the Kremlin line and supporting Moscow's invasion.
In mid-September Ukraine added its Russian-Canadian director Anastasia Trofimova to a national security blacklist for spreading "Russian propaganda" about Moscow's invasion.
"In view of the current situation" Trofimova will no longer make an appearance at the Swiss festival, the ZFF confirmed on X.
It will however remain in competition, the statement added.
The festival "has decided not to screen the Canadian French documentary film RUSSIANS AT WAR publicly, due to safety reasons", it said on the social network.
"For the ZFF, the safety of its audience, guests, partners as well as the staff is the top priority," it added.
The Toronto film festival likewise invoked security issues to justify removing the documentary from its programme.
ZFF director Christian Jungen had insisted as recently as last Thursday that the film screening would go ahead.
Yet he acknowledged that the director was "not unproblematic", especially given her work for state-owned television channel Russia Today.
The film gives voice to Russian soldiers taking part in the Kremlin's war with its pro-Western neighbour.
When it was on the Swiss festival's programme, the documentary was described as portraying "Russian frontline soldiers in Ukraine (dealing) with the fragility of democracy".
But "Russians at War" was described by a Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesman as "a propaganda film that whitewashes war crimes, not a documentary".
Thursday, the ministry posted on X that "we appreciate the Zurich Film Festival's decision to cancel public screenings" of the film but added that "we urge to completely remove the 'Russians at War' film from the festival's competition".
vog/sbk/gv
X