“WHEN FLOWERS ARE NOT SILENT” AWARDED AT THE WARSAW FILM FESTIVAL
The new film by Andrei Kutsila won the documentary competition at the Warsaw Film Festival, which has just concluded. "When Flowers Are Not Silent" is a Polish-Belarusian co-production.
The Warsaw Film Festival was established in 1985, and already in 2009 it joined the elite group of events accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (www.fiapf.org) as international competitive film festivals – next to festivals such as Cannes, Venice, Berlin, Locarno, San Sebastian, Karlovy Vary, Tokyo, Moscow, Mar del Plata, Montreal, Shanghai, Cairo, Goa, and Tallinn.
This year, the award for best documentary went to "When Flowers Are Not Silent" by Andrei Kutsila.
Another rigged presidential election in Belarus led to massive social outcry the likes of which the country has never seen before. The brutal suppression of peaceful protests resulted in mass marches. However, the peaceful demonstrations that have been going on for several months have not made Alexander Lukashenko step down from the office of president he's been holding for 27 years. In turn, the country saw political repression on a scale unprecedented in several decades of Europe's history. The documentary focuses on the life of Belarusian families who, despite the trauma they experienced, try to live on and still do their own thing. Their fates make us see pain and hope, feel the fear and determination of these people.
A complete list of winners can be found here.