ZINEMA

A blood-red Z is placed over the C in "Cinema": the letter symbolises the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. ZINEMA speaks of how state propaganda is able to function with the help of the medium of film. When ethnic or national identities are ridiculed, for instance guest workers from other, often Caucasian former Soviet republics, or portrayed as a danger, as is the case with images of young Ukrainians waving swastika flags. In his apartment, constantly under threat from Russian missile attacks, Ukrainian director Kornii Hritsyuk reflects on modern Russian film history: Beginning under Putin's predecessor Boris Yeltsin, during the first Chechen war in 1994, state-supported mainstream cinema, sparing little by way of production costs and speaking the language of the man on the street, began to glorify the "special military operations" in Chechnya, Georgia and Syria. A recurring presence: Russian actor Mikhail Porochenko, protagonist of nationalist propaganda films, and also visitors at a shooting range in the so-called Donetsk People's Republic. Director Kornii Hritsyuk was a member of the FFC's Dialog Jury back in 2022.

Text: Wolfgang Hamdorf

08.11.2024 | 18:00 | Kammerbühne (original version with English subtitles + simultaneous translation into German)

09.11.2024 | 13:00 | Obenkino (original version with English subtitles)