SYNOPSIS
On September 29-30, 1941, Sonderkommando 4a of the Einsatzgruppe C, assisted by two battalions of the Police Regiment South and Ukrainian Auxiliary Police, and without any resistance from the local population, shot dead in the Babi Yar ravine in the north-west of Kiev 33 771 Jews. The film reconstructs the historical context of this tragedy through archive footage documenting the German occupation of Ukraine and the subsequent decade. When memory turns into oblivion, when the past overshadows the future, it is the voice of cinema that articulates the truth.
Awards
Golden Eye - Special Mention | Cannes IFF2021, France, 2021
Chantal Akerman Award - Best Documentary | Jerusalem IFF, Israel, 2021
CAST & CREW
Sergei Loznitsa
Director
Producer(s)
Sergei Loznitsa, Maria Choustova
Script
Sergei Loznitsa
Director of Photography
Image Restoration: Jonas Zagorskis
Sound
Vladimir Golovnitski
Edit
Sergei Loznitsa, Danielius Kokanauskis, Tomasz Wolski
Production company(ies)
Atoms & Void (The Netherlands), Babyn Yar Holocaust Memorial Center (Ukraine)
Sergei Loznitsa
Born 1964). Sergei Loznitsa grew up in Kiev and in 1987, graduated from the Kiev Polytechnic with a degree in Applied Mathematics. In 1987-1991, he worked as a scientist at the Kiev Institute of Cybernetics, specializing in artificial intelligence research. In 1997, he graduated from the All-Russian State University of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow, where he studied feature filmmaking. Sergei Loznitsa has been making films since 1996, and by now he has directed 23 award-winning documentaries and 4 fiction films. Loznitsa’s feature debut My Joy (2010) premiered in the main competition at the Festival de Cannes and was followed by the feature film In the Fog (2012), which was awarded FIPRESCI Prize at the Festival de Cannes. In 2017, Loznitsa presented his third feature A Gentle Creature in the competition of the Festival de Cannes. In 2018, he received the Prize for Best Directing of the Un Certain Regard section of Festival de Cannes for his fourth feature film, Donbass. In 2013, Loznitsa founded the film production company Atoms & Void. His feature-length documentary Maidan (2014), the chronicles of the Ukrainian revolution, had its world premiere at a Séance Special of Festival de Cannes. His subsequent feature length documentaries, The Event (2015), Austerlitz (2016), The Tral (2018) and State Funeral (2019) were presented at the Special Screenings of the Venice IFF. Sergei Loznitsa continues to work both in documentary and feature genres.
Filmography
Today We Are Going to Build a House (1996, doc.), Life, Autumn (1998, doc.), The Train Stop (2000, doc.), Settlement (2001, doc.), Portrait (2002, doc.), Landscape (2003, doc.), Factory (2004, doc.), Blockade (2005, doc.), Artel (2006, doc.), Revue (2008, doc.), Northern Light (2008, doc.), My Joy (2010), In the Fog (2012), O Milagre de Santo António (2012, doc), Letter (2013, doc.), Reflections/Bridges of Sarajevo (2014, doc.), Maidan (2014, doc.), The Old Jewish Cemetery (2014, doc), The Event (2015, doc.), Austerlitz (2016, doc.), A Gentle Creature (2016), Victory Day (2018, doc.), Donbass (2018), The Trial (2018, doc.), State Funeral (2019, doc.), A Night at the Opera (2020, doc.), Babi Yar. Context (2021, doc.).
