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LETTERS FROM THE SILENCED COUNTRY

POLISH TITLE: LISTY

Is a creative documentary following five Belarusians whose lives have been shattered by state violence and political repression. Through personal letters written from prison, exile and underground life, the film reveals stories of protest, captivity, escape and moral resistance, while raising the haunting question of how much must be sacrificed in the pursuit of a nation's freedom. Combining observational filmmaking, found footage, archival materials and animation based on drawings created in confinement, "Letters from a Silenced Country" gives voice to those the regime sought to silence. It is a story not only of pain, but also of dignity, solidarity, love and the struggle to remain human.

GENRE:
documentary / animation
COUNTRY:
Polska, Niemcy, Litwa
RUNNING TIME:
90'
YEAR:
COLOUR:
colour / black and white
DIRECTING:
Andrei Kutsila
SCRIPT:
Andrei Kutsila
DOP:
Andrei Kutsila, Wojciech Węglarz
EDITOR:
Piotr Ogiński
SOUND:
Saulius Urbanavičius
PRODUCTION:
Mirosław Dembiński, Sofiia Zadorozhna
COPRODUCTION:
Gregor Streiber, Friedemann Hottenbacher, Giedrė Žickytė

Andrei Kutsila »

Film director, born in 1983. In 2007 he earned his degree in International Journalism from the Belarusian State University and two years later he graduated from the Belarusian Academy of Fine Arts in Minsk. Since then he has collaborated with various producers and TV stations as a freelance filmmaker and participated in many international education programmes (including IDFAcademy and Berlinale Talents). In 2018 he won the IDFA award in the Best Medium-Length Documentary Film category for "Summa". In 2019, he was awarded with the Silver Hobby-Horse for the best documentary film in the National Competition of the Krakow Film Festival. He is a winner of the "Gaude Polonia" scholarship granted by the Minister of Culture and National Heritage and the author of the following films: "Focal distance" (2008), "Kill the Day" (2010), "Fight For" (2011), "Enough! To Freedom ..." (2012), "Love in Belarus" (2014), "Guests"(2015), "Passing BY" (2016), "King of the Hill" (2017), "Summa" (2018), "Strip and War" (2019) and "I Need the Handshakes" (2020).
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