The annual film festival "Artdocfest/Asia!" has been cancelled by the Ministry of Culture of Uzbekistan. All film screenings were cancelled following the disruption of the screening of the film "Eastern Front" about volunteer paramedics in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. This was reported by the film's director and president of the festival, Vitaly Mansky, on Facebook.
Mansky stated that the screening of their film was disrupted in Tashkent as part of the festival, and all subsequent screenings of the festival program were prohibited by the Ministry of Culture of Uzbekistan. This incident marks the first in the 4 years of the independent platform 139 Documentary Center's existence.
The festival was scheduled to take place in Tashkent from April 2 to 8 this year, with the cultural venue 139 Documentary Center as the festival's partner. A total of 10 films were supposed to be shown, including the main documentary films of recent years that participated in the IDFF "Artdocfest/Riga."
Countries participating in the festival included Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Russia, Switzerland, Ukraine, France, Estonia, Norway, the USA, and the Czech Republic. According to the festival's website, films from Tajikistan did not participate in the festival.
