Exiled Russian director Andrey Zvyagintsev used his Cannes Grand Prix acceptance speech to call on Vladimir Putin to stop the fighting.
Zvyagintsev collected the Grand Prix for his film Minotaur at the Cannes ceremony on Saturday night. He addressed Putin directly in his remarks, saying the Russian president was the only one who could halt the violence. The director noted that millions on both sides of the front line wanted the massacres to stop and urged him to put an end to the carnage as the world waited.