Russian streaming platforms censor American film ‘Anora’ to crop out scenes of drug use

Russian censors have re-edited the American film Anora to conceal depictions of drugs and marijuana use, cropping multiple scenes to remove content that violates Russia’s strict ban on “drug propaganda.” (Censors did not touch the movie’s scene with a half-naked woman.)

“The release of Anora on Russian streaming platforms is a real shock,” wrote film critic Timur Aliyev, who first reported the modified version. “Over the past 10 years, we’ve grown used to profanity being bleeped out, cigarettes and drugs being blurred, and controversial subjects getting dubbed over. But not to such grotesque alterations in the visuals of a foreign movie. It seems the film critics who stayed in Russia now have an entirely new role: they must watch movies twice, once as they’re released in Russia and then again in their original version.”