Sergei Loznitsa Presents His Work Process on Archival Documentary Films
Returning to this year's “Scanorama” with an archival documentary film “The Kiev Trial” (2022), Sergei Loznitsa once again presents the audience with a unique chronicle of unspeakable horrors of Europe’s recent past.
The Kiev Trial, also known as the “Kiev Nuremberg”, took place in the Soviet Union in January of 1946, and was one of the first post-war trials convicting German Nazis and their collaborators. 15 criminals, guilty of atrocities, which were later identified by the Nuremberg trials as “crimes against humanity”, faced justice in case No.1679 “On the atrocities committed by fascist invaders on the territory of the Ukrainian SSR.”
Using unique, previously unseen, archive footage, Sergei Loznitsa reconstructs key moments of the proceedings, including statements of the defendants and testimonies of the witnesses, survivors of Auschwitz and Babi Yar among them. The film is devastatingly relevant today, as Ukrainian people are once again being subjected to the violence of barbarian invaders.
In this timely new work Sergei Lozntisa continues his quest for artistic truth, deconstructs cultural and ideological cliches and brings the spectator face to face with pivotal moments of history, which must never be forgotten.
According to critics, Loznitsa’s work chronicled like few others the extent of contemporary man’s savagery and folly: both his willingness to commit brutal crimes, and his reluctance — if not refusal — to learn from the past.”
Where does this Sisyphean task of spending years going through never-before-seen archival footage leave the filmmaker himself? “It’s not my goal to teach anyone anything. There is a saying by the German philosopher Max Frisch: Everything has already been said, but since no one listens, one has to repeat it again and again. There always remains a hope that perhaps somebody might listen.”
During his masterclass Sergei Loznitsa, Cannes and Venice film festivals regular, will share his process of creating archival documentary films, illustrating it with clips from his works and will answer questions from the audience.
Sergei Loznitsa, Scriptwriter, Director, and Producer. Sergei grew up in Kiev, in 1987 graduated from the Kiev Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Applied Mathematics, and in 1997 - from the Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow, where he studied feature filmmaking. He has been making films since 1996, and by now has directed 25 award-winning documentaries and 4 fiction films.
Loznitsa’s feature debut “My Joy” (2010) premiered in the main competition at the Festival de Cannes, and was followed by the feature film “In the Fog” (2012), which was awarded by the FIPRESCI prize at the 65th Festival de Cannes. In 2017, Sergei Loznitsa presented his third feature “A Gentle Creature” in the competition of the Festival de Cannes. In 2018, Loznitsa received the prize for Best Directing of the Un Certain Regard section of Festival de Cannes for his fourth feature film, “Donbass”. In 2013 founded a film production company “Atoms & Void”.
Sergei Loznitsa’s feature-length documentary “Maidan” (2014), the chronicles of the Ukrainian revolution, had its world premiere at a Séance Special of Festival de Cannes. His subsequent feature-length documentaries, “The Event” (2015), “Austerlitz” (2016), “The Trial” (2018) and “State Funeral” (2019) were presented at the Special Screenings of the Venice Film Festival. In 2021 Sergei received a Special Jury Prize of the L’Oeil D’Or Award in Cannes for his film “Babi Yar. Context”. “Scanorama” has shown a number of films by the prominent film director.
Loznitsa is currently directing a play “The Triumph of Death” (Erinijas), based on the award-winning novel by the French-American writer Jonathan Littell “The Kindly Ones”, which is due to premiere at the Lithuanian State Youth Theatre in December 2022.
Event in Lithuanian (transl. Dmitrij Gluščevskij)
The event took place on November 19th, 2022.