{"id":563314,"date":"2026-07-28T21:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T18:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=563314"},"modified":"2026-07-28T21:39:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T18:39:14","slug":"director-andrei-kudzinenka-says-he-was-targeted-in-belarus-over-private-film-school-kinakalaidar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/director-andrei-kudzinenka-says-he-was-targeted-in-belarus-over-private-film-school-kinakalaidar","title":{"rendered":"Director Andrei Kudzinenka Says He Was Targeted in Belarus Over Private Film School \u201cKinaKalaidar\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>A search of the home of <b>Andrei Kudzinenka<\/b> was carried out because of the \u201cKinaKalaidar\u201d film school, which he had recently become the owner of, the director <a href=\"https:\/\/belsat.eu\/94566225\/rezhysyor-andrej-kudzinenka\">told<\/a> Belsat.<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cKinaKalaidar\u201d film school had operated for about three years. Initially, Kudzinenka was its founder and a lecturer, and later became a co-owner. When the former director encountered problems with the security services, the filmmaker bought out her share, re-registered the institution in his name and became its sole owner and director.<\/p>\n<p>A day after the registration process was completed, security officers came to his home.<\/p>\n<p>According to him, other independent film schools have also faced difficulties in recent months. Some have closed, moved online or suspended their programs.<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cWe were the last ones left,\u201d<\/i> the director said.<\/p>\n<p>The search warrant stated that officers were looking for \u201cextremist documents\u201d and symbols. KGB officers also questioned him about possible foreign funding for the school. The director said that \u201cKinaKalaidar\u201d had operated solely on tuition fees, officially signed contracts and paid taxes. <i>\u201cWe operated transparently and legally. We survived only thanks to those who paid for their education. We had no foreign funding whatsoever,\u201d<\/i> he said.<\/p>\n<p>However, in his view, even non-political cultural activity is now perceived by the Belarusian authorities as a threat. <i>\u201cIt is no longer possible to engage in art without permission. Everything requires approval and constant oversight,\u201d<\/i> Kudzinenka said.<\/p>\n<p>The fact that the school described itself as independent was enough to arouse the KGB\u2019s suspicions.<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cTheir main complaint was: \u2018You consider yourselves independent. Independent from whom?\u2019 For them, anything independent automatically means something bad and extremist,\u201d<\/i> Kudzinenka said.<\/p>\n<p>The security officers made it clear from the outset that the school would no longer be allowed to operate. They told him that he could face between eight and 12 years in prison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A search of the home of Andrei Kudzinenka was carried out because of the \u201cKinaKalaidar\u201d film school, which he had recently become the owner of, the director told Belsat. The \u201cKinaKalaidar\u201d film school had operated for about three years. Initially, Kudzinenka was its founder and a lecturer, and later became a co-owner. When the former [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":563313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6a68f755933e4.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Director Andrei Kudzinenka Says He Was Targeted in Belarus Over Private Film School \u201cKinaKalaidar\u201d"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142375,142338],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-563314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-news"],"wps_subtitle":"","permalink_manager":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=563314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/563314\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/563313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=563314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=563314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=563314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}