Loznitsa, a Ukrainian director, is planning a documentary about Russia’s invasion

Sergei Loznitsa, a Ukrainian director, announced plans to produce a documentary about his country’s conflict at the Cannes Film Festival, where he screened his film “The Natural History of Destruction.”

“I haven’t gone back to Ukraine since the conflict began, but of course I plan to go, and I aim to create a film about the crimes that are happening right now,” the filmmaker, who lives in Lithuania, told Reuters in an interview.

Russia is approaching the fourth month of its “special operation” invasion of Ukraine.

Loznitsa has presented at Cannes eight times, and in 2012, his picture “In the Fog” contended for the festival’s top award, the Palme d’Or.

“The Natural History of Destruction,” based on W.G. Sebald’s book of the same name, examines the Allied bombing of Germany during WWII via historical film.

Moral issues surrounding the targeting and demoralisation of civilian populations in that campaign have not been resolved and are significant in Ukraine today, according to Loznitsa.

“Lessons that needed to be learnt after WWII were never truly learned,” he remarked.

On a hotly debated issue in Cannes, Loznitsa defended his stance against boycotting Russian filmmakers.

“Culture, by definition, opposes war – it is something that is utterly opposed to any conflict,” he added, echoing exiled Russian filmmaker Kirill Serebrennikov, who came out against boycotting Russian culture last week.

Serebrennikov has criticised the invasion of Ukraine, and his picture “Tchaikovsky’s Wife” is the festival’s lone Russian entry.