Filmmaker Zvyagintsev's new film addresses Putin's war in Ukraine
Andrey Zvyagintsev's 'Minotaur' is an Oscar entry and won the Grand Prix at Cannes.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Filmmaker Zvyagintsev's new film addresses Putin's war in Ukraine
Photograph: The Star Kuala Lumpur (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Exiled Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev's new film, 'Minotaur,' addresses Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine.
- The film won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and is an entry for the 2027 Oscar for best international film.
- The story follows Gleb, a logistics company owner who is pressured to identify employees for military service but instead recruits new drivers for the war.
- Zvyagintsev, who left Russia in 2021, was designated a 'foreign agent' by Russia in August.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 10 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 2 of the 12 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
42/100
Craft
59/100
Hype
20/100
12 sources · methodology
Thin on the left so far
None of the 10 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Exiled Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev has released a new film titled "Minotaur" that addresses Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. The film, which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, is an entry for the 2027 Oscar for best international film. Zvyagintsev left Russia in 2021 and has not returned. In August, Russia designated him a "foreign agent."
The narrative of "Minotaur" centres on Gleb, the owner of a logistics company. He faces pressure from the local mayor to identify 14 employees for military service. Unwilling to send his current workers to the front, Gleb recruits new drivers with promises of high salaries, only to dispatch them to the war.
Zvyagintsev stated that as a director who speaks only Russian and was born in Russia, he could not avoid addressing the war, which he described as the most important event of recent years. The film, produced in France, is in Russian but is unlikely to be officially released in Russia due to its subject matter. Zvyagintsev commented that propaganda is a crude instrument, while art deals with subtleties and works over the long term.
The film was originally conceived as a remake of Claude Chabrol's "La Femme Infidele." However, the project transformed when Russia's invasion of Ukraine occurred. The setting shifted from suburban Paris to a bleak Russian town, and the domestic tensions of the original story were recontextualised against the backdrop of war.
Disagreement on film's release date
The Star Kuala Lumpur reported that "Minotaur" opens in French cinemas on October 14. Other reports did not specify a release date for French cinemas.
What the coverage left out
None of the centre-rated or right-rated reports mentioned that the film was originally intended to be a remake of Claude Chabrol's "La Femme Infidele" before being transformed by the invasion of Ukraine.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 3 times, most recently on 3 Oct 2026, 15:45, and will add the sides that appear.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
0 rated outlets
No outlet rated left has run this story so far. We are still checking, and will say plainly if that does not change.
Centre
4 rated outlets
- Centre-rated reports led with the film's focus on the war in Ukraine and its Oscar bid. They highlighted that "Minotaur" is a drama about conscription and moral compromise, released nearly five years after Russia's full-scale invasion. These reports noted Zvyagintsev's exile from Russia since 2021 and his designation as a "foreign agent."
Right
6 rated outlets
- Right-rated reports also led with the film's focus on the war in Ukraine and its Oscar bid. They stated that exiled Russian filmmaker Andrey Zvyagintsev "takes aim at Putin's war in Oscar bid." These reports mentioned the film's win of the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and its status as an entry for the 2027 Oscar for best international film. The narrative centres on Gleb, who is pressured to identify employees for military service and instead recruits new drivers for the war.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Filmmaker Zvyagintsev's new film addresses Putin's war in Ukraine?
- Of the 10 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 0% are rated left, 40% are rated centre, 60% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 12. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Filmmaker Zvyagintsev's new film addresses Putin's war in Ukraine left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 10 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Filmmaker Zvyagintsev's new film addresses Putin's war in Ukraine biased?
- Filmmaker Zvyagintsev's new film addresses Putin's war in Ukraine is one event reported by 12 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Filmmaker Zvyagintsev's new film addresses Putin's war in Ukraine?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Filmmaker Zvyagintsev's new film addresses Putin's war in Ukraine?
- 12 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- What is Andrey Zvyagintsev's new film about?
- Andrey Zvyagintsev's new film, 'Minotaur,' addresses Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine. It is a drama about conscription and moral compromise, focusing on a logistics company owner pressured to send employees to the war.
- What awards has 'Minotaur' received?
- 'Minotaur' won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. It has also been submitted as an entry for the 2027 Oscar for best international film.
- Has Zvyagintsev faced repercussions in Russia?
- Yes, Andrey Zvyagintsev left Russia in 2021 and has not returned. In August, the Russian government designated him a 'foreign agent,' a label applied to individuals accused of carrying out anti-Russian activities with foreign support.
Read it at the source
12 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
Centre
4- Exiled Russian filmmaker Zvyagintsev takes aim at Putin’s war in Oscar bid (opens Investing.com in a new tab)
Investing.com — is Investing.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Exiled Russian filmmaker Zvyagintsev takes aim at Putin's war in Oscar bid (opens Reuters in a new tab)
- Exiled Russian filmmaker Zvyagintsev takes aim at Putin’s war in Oscar bid (opens The Mighty 790 KFGO in a new tab)
The Mighty 790 KFGO — is The Mighty 790 KFGO biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Exiled Russian filmmaker Zvyagintsev takes aim at Putin’s war in Oscar bid (opens WTVB in a new tab)
Right
6- Exiled Russian filmmaker Zvyagintsev takes aim at Putin's war in Oscar bid (opens The Star Kuala Lumpur in a new tab)
The Star Kuala Lumpur — is The Star Kuala Lumpur biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Exiled Russian filmmaker Zvyagintsev takes aim at Putin's war in Oscar bid (opens The Straits Times in a new tab)
The Straits Times — is The Straits Times biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Exiled Russian filmmaker Zvyagintsev takes aim at Putin’s war in Oscar bid (opens WSAU in a new tab)
- Exiled Russian filmmaker Zvyagintsev takes aim at Putin’s war in Oscar bid (opens KELO Newstalk 1320 107.9 in a new tab)
KELO Newstalk 1320 107.9 — is KELO Newstalk 1320 107.9 biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Exiled Russian filmmaker Zvyagintsev takes aim at Putin’s war in Oscar bid (opens WTAQ in a new tab)
- Exiled Russian filmmaker Zvyagintsev takes aim at Putin’s war in Oscar bid (opens WKZO in a new tab)
Not rated
2How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
