Andrey Zvyagintsev Returns to Cannes With Minotaur for Palme d’Or

Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev returned to the Cannes Film Festival this week with his new film "Minotaur," receiving a prolonged standing ovation at its world premiere. The film, his first in nearly a decade, is a contender for the festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or.

The drama, set in a fictional Russian city in 2022, follows a successful shipping company executive, Gleb, whose life unravels amid professional crises, marital betrayal, and the backdrop of war. The story examines themes of corruption, moral collapse, and state violence. The film stars Dmitriy Mazurov and Iris Lebedeva and was shot entirely in Riga, Latvia.

Zvyagintsev, who has lived in exile in France since 2020, described his return to Cannes as one of the best things that has happened to him in the past nine years. He said that despite his absence from Russia, his long experience there informed the film. "I may have left Russia but I previously spent 60 years there," he told a press conference. "I know a lot about corruption too, which is highly developed in the country."

The director's relationship with Russian authorities has been strained for years. His previous film, "Leviathan," which won awards at...