Section: Special: Belarus

Vostrau Malaka

Island of Milk

Siarhei Hudzilin

Belarus, 2016, 5 Min

Milk smuggling on the EU border. A river; one bank finds itself in Belarus, where the locals refer to it as the Dzvina, whilst on the other side, in Latvia, it’s called the Daugava. In the middle of the river lies the “Milk Island”, the scene of a “crime” committed along the EU’s external frontier.

Siarhei Hudzilin

For centuries now families from the Belarusian hamlet of Druja have been leading their cows, every spring, to the island where they graze. On a daily basis the farmers head to the island to milk the cows, as of 2004 equivalent to them entering the EU illegally and then “exporting” the milk back to Belarus. Come autumn the cows leave Latvia again. Going beyond images of refugees crowded at the EU’s border fences, scenes widely exploited by the media in recent times, director Siarhei Hudzilin provides an example of peaceful coexistence on the Schengen Zone’s external frontier set in the midst of a beautiful landscape. MM

Filmformat
Mp4 | Doc. | Farbe / colour

Drehbuch
Siarhei Hudzilin

Kamera
Siarhei Hudzilin

Ton
Siarhei Hudzilin

Schnitt
Siarhei Hudzilin

Musik
Viktar Sjamashka

Produzent
Siarhei Hudzilin

Produktion
Siarhei Hudzilin

Co-Produktion
Antonina Stebur

Kontakt
Siarhei Hudzilin
hudzilin@gmail.com
+37.52.91.22.44 96

Siarhei Hudzilin - born in 1987 in Zhodzina, Belarus. Studied Media and Communications at the European Humanities University in Vilnius. While serving in the army of Belarus he discovered his interest in social and documentary photography. Since 2011 he is photo correspondent for Belarusian daily newspaper “Nasha Niva”.

Movies
BLACK LIST OF ARTS (2012, short, doc)
PA KRAI (2016, short, doc)

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