Documentarian Films by Sergei Loznitsa

Avant-garde documentarian Sergei Loznitsa’s films offer stark insights into the urgent political issues facing contemporary Ukraine. To coincide with the UK premiere of Loznitsa’s The Trial, In Focus presents screenings of the Ukrainian director’s recent non-fiction works.

These four masterful documentaries provide a trenchant portrait of post-Soviet nationhood, demonstrating Loznitsa’s analytical relationship with the history of his country and the surrounding region. Through striking cinematography and innovative montage, these poetic works capture the pulse of a society undergoing a profound political and socio-cultural transition.

“The Trial” 10 September 6.30 pm

Sergei Loznitsa’s found-footage documentary is comprised of painstakingly researched and restored archival material from one of Joseph Stalin’s first show trials, recorded in Moscow in 1930. The trial and its consequences are real, but the crime is fake – a spectacle concocted as a display of the government’s power over the population. The accused – charged with forming a secret pact to restore capitalism and fracture the USSR – are forced to confess to crimes they never committed. Illuminating the perils of authoritarianism while undermining the inherent theatricality of its propagandistic machinery, The Trial is a fascinating historical document with considerable contemporary resonance.

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“The Event” 11 September 6.45 pm

In August 1991, a failed coup d’état attempt led by a group of communists in Moscow ended the 70-year-long rule of the Soviets. The USSR collapsed soon after, and the tricolour of the sovereign Russian Federation flew over the Kremlin. As coup leaders detained president Gorbachev, commandeered state-run television and radio channels broadcast Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake instead of news bulletins, and crowds of protestors gathered, preparing to defend the stronghold of democratic opposition led by Boris Yeltsin. In the city of Leningrad, thousands of confused, scared, excited and desperate people poured into the streets to become a part of the event, which was supposed to change their destiny.

A quarter of a century later, Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa revisits these moments, which were hailed worldwide as the birth of Russian democracy. What really happened in Russia in August 1991? What was the driving force behind the crowds in Leningrad? What exactly are we witnessing: the collapse of a regime or its creative re-branding? Who are these people looking at the camera: victors or victims?

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“Austerlitz” 11 September 8.30 pm

Inspired by W.G. Sebald’s 2001 novel of the same name, this disquieting documentary explores the tourist industry established around Germany’s former concentration camps. Using fixed cameras at Dachau and Sachsenhausen, Loznitsa records the surreal ebb and flow of visitors as they jarringly partake in standard tourist activities at these disturbing memorial sites.

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“Victory Day” 12 September 6.45 pm

Sergei Loznitsa depicts the annual Victory Day celebrations held at the Soviet War Memorial in Berlin’s Treptower Park in this fascinating observational documentary. With studied impartiality and unwavering directness, Loznitsa follows the vast Russian community who gather to commemorate the Soviet Union’s victory over the Third Reich – carrying flags, banners, and posters as they sing, dance, drink, and lay flowers at the base of the memorial.

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All films are ad-free and 18+ unless otherwise stated. Groups are advised to arrive early as seating is unallocated.