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Producer again denies plans for government-funded pro-Lukashenka movie

Film producer Syarhey Zhdanovich has again denied accusations that the government has offered him a grant for making a propaganda movie.

While talking to reporters in Minsk on Tuesday, the head of film production company Nonstop Media acknowledged that the culture ministry had provided 20 billion rubels ($2.2 million) for the making of Avel (Abel), a story of two brothers' reunion that spans decades and includes scenes in present-day Belarus.

Mr. Zhdanovich said that Nonstop Media and he personally were targeted by an "information war." "In this context we have to keep secret some key aspects, for instance the names of A-list stars that have already signed contracts to appear in the movie," he said.

The producer noted that the movie would be made in cooperation with Polish, Russian and US companies, which he said would never agree to participate in a propaganda project.

A US director has been chosen for the movie. Hollywood actor Eric Roberts is expected to appear in the movie, said Mr. Zhdanovich.

Filming will begin next January. Some scenes are expected to be shot in the United States and Poland.

Screenwriter Andrey Kureychyk said this past September that the movie would be a piece of propaganda defending the crackdown on Alyaksandr Lukashenka's political opponents in December 2010. //BelaPAN