Two movie directors are banned from making films or in-home arrested

Cannes Film Festival is ON and two from 21 movies in competition for the Palme d'Or of 2018 are without their director.

Russian film director Kirill Serebrennikov was arrested during the movie shoot and had to complete editing the film alone without being able to communicate with his cast and crew.

While the Iranian director Jafar Panahi, is officially banned from making films or leaving the country.

“Leto” (“Summer”), brings in the surface the true story of the most successful and influential Russian singer-songwriter Viktor Tsoi in the Soviet era right before his tragically death in a car crash in 1990, aged 28.

The movie “3 Faces”, which will screen on Saturday, brings the stories of three Iranian actresses: the old lady who had to stop acting, the popular country star and a young girl longing to attend a drama conservatory.

Putin answered the request of Cannes Film Festival and the French government to allow Serebrennikov to travel by writing that, he would have been pleased to help ... but in Russia justice is independent.

Leto's theme of state censorship and oppression will not go unnoticed in Russian audience as its auteur - who also directs theatre and ballet - remains under arrest.

“This was more of a historical film – talking about the context of that time, not stressing any similarities (with the present),” producer Ilya Stewart said.

“Although, in my personal opinion, anything Kirill does in his work, whether it’s ballet, theater or any of his film, it’s about today. He speaks about today.”