U.S.S.R. Asks Studios to End Moscow Film Fest Ban : Movies: Proposed action by U.S. filmmakers was response to widespread piracy of films and videos.

The Soviet Foreign Ministry, apologizing for the widespread piracy of films and videos here, asked U.S. motion picture producers on Monday to reconsider their boycott of the Moscow Film Festival next month, arguing that the action would only punish cinema lovers.

Vladimir Petrovsky, a senior deputy foreign minister, acknowledged in a letter to Jack Valenti, president of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, that piracy remains rife here, despite repeated promises by the Soviet government to halt illegal film and video copying and distribution.

Copyright protection remains inadequate, although the Soviet foreign ministry and other bodies have sought to introduce much tougher legislation that would meet international criteria, Petrovsky said in the letter released by the foreign ministry.

But he said the proposed boycott--announced earlier this month by the association and the allied Motion Picture Export Assn. of America, to not participate in the festival--”is hardly justified because it will ‘punish’ not individuals or organizations guilty of audiovisual piracy, but Soviet film-lovers and festival organizers who pursue humanitarian aims.”

Two weeks ago, the U.S. producers groups announced they would not supply films for the festival as a way of protesting illegal copying and the Soviet Union’s lack of response to the issue.

MPAA President Jack Valenti could not immediately be reached on Monday for comment regarding Petrovsky’s letter.

Petrovsky urged Valenti’s group to relent, dropping its boycott not only of the festival but of broader film distribution here. He pledged that the Soviet government would cooperate in resolving the problems on the basis of “mutually profitable terms accepted in the civilized world.”

The biennial festival, scheduled to open July 8 and run for 11 days, has been a fixture on the international cinema circuit for more than three decades.

In 1989, there were two American films, “The Accidental Tourist” and “Ironweed,” among 20 pictures entered in the competition from 17 countries. The top prize that year went to Italian director Maurizio Nichetti for “The Icicle Thief.”