On 14 February, after Charli XCX's mockumentaryThe Momentpremiered at the Berlin International Film Festival, a Russian model and DJ called Anastasia Shevtsova — she performs under the name Petit — threw the official afterparty. She posted about it herself: photos of the venue, the DJ lineup, Charli dancing by the booth. Her husband George Daniel, the drummer from The 1975, was one of the DJs. So were Austrian artist Wolfram, French musicians SebastiAn and u.r.trax. It looked, from the pictures at least, like a perfectly normal Berlinale bash.

just found out that charli xcx is partying with russians who actively contribute to war in ukraine. there’s also rumours of her airing her movie in russia, which will obviously fund the war. i urge you guys to not support her or at least be wary of what she does..pic.twitter.com/zNqvtRsl9g

Shevtsova's mother is Zhanna Shevtsova. She holds two positions: founder of a Russian organisation called the Traditsiya foundation, which describes itself as a fund for 'social initiatives,' and Vice-Rector for Creative Industries at the Moscow State Institute of Culture. The foundation works with Putin's Presidential Fund for Cultural Initiatives. It operates in Ukrainian regions under Russian occupation — Donetsk, Luhansk, Mariupol — and its own website states, quite openly, that since 2023 its mission has been 'aimed at integrating Donbas and liberated territories into a single cultural, educational, enlightenment, and civilizational space.'

Strip that language back and it means running cultural programming in occupied Ukrainian cities under the framing that those cities belong to Russia now.

One of the foundation's flagship projects is a festival called Road to a Dream, which has received backing from the Presidential Fund three times. As of May 2025, roughly 4,000 Ukrainian children living under occupation had taken part. In 2024, Zhanna Shevtsova travelled to occupied Donetsk and Luhansk herself — including Mariupol — to screen a propaganda documentary about the festival for children. She called the film 'a very important event, patriotic and uplifting' and said she hoped it would help children reflect on 'how they should live, how to behave, what goals to set for themselves, and also what is true and what is false.'

She went back in 2025 with staff from the Moscow State Institute of Culture, this time to Makiivka and Mariupol, to hold master classes at occupied art schools.

Here is the part that makes it rather difficult to write off as an honest mistake. UNITED24 Media reported on Sunday that Ukrainian artists and cultural figures contacted Charli's team before the afterparty. They also contacted the management of the Berlin venue. They laid out Shevtsova's background — who her mother was, what the Traditsiya foundation does, where it operates — and they asked for the event to be cancelled.

Nobody has said who made the final call, whether it was Charli's management, the venue or Shevtsova herself, but the warnings went in and the party happened regardless. That isn't carelessness. It's a decision, and whoever made it knew what they were choosing.

Charli has not commented. Nor has her management.

Then there is the film itself. The Moment — which premiered at Sundance in late January before its Berlinale screening — is set for a theatrical release in Russia. A company called Russian Report acquired distribution rights; it opens in Russian cinemas in April, though no specific date has been confirmed. Whether Charli or the film's producers see that as a problem is unclear, but the combination looks bad and it's getting harder to argue otherwise: a Berlinale afterparty organised by the daughter of a woman screening propaganda for children in occupied Mariupol, followed a few weeks later by the same film opening in Russian cinemas.

Source: International Business Times UK