Georgian cinemas blacklist Russian films

A chain of cinemas in Georgia has stopped screening films in Russian, according to the Regnum news agency. The Russian news provider didn’t name the cinema group but said the owners were protesting against what they call Moscow’s aggression towards Georgi

From now on, only films which have been translated into Georgian or with Georgian subtitles will be screened by the chain.

The owners also said in future they would get copies of all new films in English, in an apparent bid to promote the English language in Georgia.

The move to marginalise Russian films isn’t the first assault on Russian culture from Georgian sources in recent times.

During the South Ossetian conflict, the Tbilisi government blocked access to both Russian TV channels and Russian websites.

In a similar move earlier in the summer, Ukraine banned films in Russian from its cinemas despite the fact that about a half of the population speak native Russian.

The move has sparked protests in Ukraine.