Synopse

Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa portrays the bureaucratic system of Stalinism as a claustrophobic labyrinth full of suspicion and menace. The letters from prisoners who fell victim to the Stalinist purges of the 1930s are systemically destroyed so as to isolate the convicts from the outside world. When a letter from an imprisoned colleague nevertheless reaches the young public prosecutor Alexander Kornjew, he suspects a conspiracy and sets out on a dangerous mission of clarification. Based on a novel by the recently rediscovered author Georgi Demidow, the film exposes a power structure hollowed out from the inside and ruled by the intelligence services.

Regie

SERGEI LOZNITSA qualified in Kyiv as an engineer and then studied direction at the Moscow WGIK film school. Besides award-winning, often archive-based documentaries, he also makes feature films like Mein Glück (2010) which was shown in Cannes and at FILMFEST HAMBURG. His current film Two Prosecutors also ran in competition at Cannes.

Presented by ARTE

Vorstellungen

03.10.2025     19:45 Uhr

CinemaxX Dammtor - Saal 3

Info

Content Notes

physical violence psychological violence

Tags

• Legal system
• thriller
• Eastern Europe
• Literature/Film adaptation
• colonialism
• Politics/Power
• human rights
• history
• Society/Current events