The famous British film director Terry Gilliam mistakenly thanked Russia instead of Ukraine after receiving the Golden Duke award for his contribution to the world cinematography at the Odesa International Film Festival on Aug. 21.
“Thank you, Russia! Thank you, Odesa!” Gilliam, 80, said from the stage.
The festival’s president Viktoriya Tigipko, standing near Gilliam, smiled and told the director: “Ukraine, it’s Ukraine.”
One of the festival’s hosts, TV personality Yanina Sokolova, was more brusque: She interrupted the director’s speech and reminded him that Odesa was in Ukraine.
“Sorry, but you must know this,” she said, sounding annoyed.
The director immediately apologized, saying that he was overwhelmed by being in Odesa. Gilliam said that standing on Potemkin Stairs, a landmark in Odesa, meant a lot to him because the Soviet film “Battleship Potemkin” (1925), directed by Sergei Eisenstein, inspired him to make films.
The moment at the Odesa Film Festival’s closing ceremony on Aug. 21 when British film director Terry Gilliam went onstage to receive an award and got confused about what country he is in.
The 12th annual film festival took place on Aug. 14–21 in the Black Sea port city of Odesa, nearly 500 kilometers south of Kyiv. Traditionally, it hosted big international and Ukrainian premieres, screening more than 60 films in total, held film workshops and red-carpet events at the opening and closing ceremonies.
Later on the closing night, the festival’s official Facebook page posted a video of Gilliam thanking Ukraine for the festival and the award, seemingly to correct his previous mistake.
American-born director, writer, comedian, and actor Terry Gilliam has now been directing films for nearly 50 years. He is famous for making “Monty Python and the Holy Grail,” “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” “Brazil,” “The Man Who Killed Don Quixote,” “12 Monkeys” and others. In 2009, Gilliam received the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Fellowship for lifetime achievement.
