2020
Serebrennikov to open Avignon Festival despite travel ban
director Kirill Serebrennikov, currently banned from leaving his country, has been chosen to open one of Europe’s leading theatre festivals in Avignon.“We don’t know for now whether he will be present in Avignon. We strongly hope so, of course,” festival director Olivier Py told AFP.He said the programming of Serebrennikov’s new play “The Black Monk” at the Avignon Festival (July 7-26) was set two years ago, “long before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”Serebrennikov, 52, was convicted in 2020 of embezzling funds at Moscow’s Gogol Centre theater, where he was artistic director.