THE KIEV TRIAL
O.V. in Russian, German and Ukrainian subtitled in English and Spanish
Here is a new step in Loznitsa's already monumental work based on unpublished archival material. This critical and documented review skillfully makes use of the capabilities of cinema to deliver a radical update on the past of the former Soviet Union and in particular of today's war-torn Ukraine. In 1946, the so-called "Kiev Nuremberg" took place, a trial of 15 Nazi war criminals guilty of multiple atrocities (later classified "crimes against humanity") committed on Ukrainian soil. Comprising a reconstruction of the lawyers' pleadings and the testimony of surviving witnesses from Auschwitz and Babi Yar, among other testimonies, a moving, lucid and powerful work.
Direction: Sergei Loznitsa
Screenplay: Sergei Loznitsa
Editing: Sergei Loznitsa, Tomasz Wolski, Danielius Kokanauskis
Sound: Vladimir Golovnitski
Production design: Sergei Loznitsa
Production: Sergei Loznitsa, Maria Choustova, Ilya Khrzhanoskiy, Max Yakover
Production company: ATOMS & VOID para el Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center
Distributor: ATOMS & VOID
Internationals sales: ATOMS & VOID
Born in Belarus in 1964, Loznitsa grew up in Kyiv, graduated in Mathematics, and later on, continued his studies at the Gerásimov Institute of Cinematography in Moscow. The artist has directed more than twenty films since his debut in 1996, earning him international recognition and awards at festivals such as Cannes, Karlovy Vary, Oberhausen, Jihlava, and Doclisboa, among others. The SEFF has screened his latest films: The Event winner of the Best Film Award in The New Waves-Non Fiction section in 2015, striking it once again in 2021 with Babi Yar. Context, which had previously received a Special Mention Award at Cannes; Victory Day, The Trial and Donbass (winner of the Best Director Award of the Un Certain Regard section and the Golden Giraldillo for Best Film) was screened at the SEFF in 2018; followed by State Funeral in 2019, premiered in Venice, just as The Kiev Trial this year.
