Ukrainian director Dmytro Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk criticised the Cannes Film Festival for having a Russian director in its lineup.

Official Russian delegations are not allowed to attend the festival, but Russian dissident Kirill Serebrennikov, who has spoken out against the invasion of Ukraine, debuted his in-competition film “Tchaikovsky’s Wife” on Wednesday.

“When he’s here, he is part of the Russian propaganda, and they can use him,” Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk told Reuters on Saturday.

Russian director Serebrennikov said earlier this week that Russian culture “has always promoted human values,” and that it should not be shunned.

Sukholytkyy-Sobchuk, a Ukrainian director, characterised the feeling of being in Cannes when his country is fighting a Russian invasion as “alien.”

“Everything what’s happened here, it’s something that would not belong in Ukraine – the peaceful life… We have (an) opposite reality,” he said.

“Pamfir,” set in the Chernivtsi region of western Ukraine, begins with the return of a father, Leonid, to his family after months of working in Poland.

Leonid’s son Nazar is blamed for a church fire, forcing his father to take up a quick smuggling job, which enrages the local contraband lord.

The tale of struggling for redemption has resonance with the current struggle, with connections to Greek tragedy and the bible account of Abraham and Isaac.

“(The film) is a reflection of the strength and power of the Ukrainian people, who are very strong and who will win. It’s just a question of time… because we can’t be defeated,” said Oleksandr Yatsentyuk, who plays Leonid.

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