VICTORY DAY / 2018
SYNOPSIS
Every year, on the 9th of May, people gather in Treptower Park in Berlin. They come dressed in their best outfits or in Soviet military uniform. They carry flags, banners and posters. They lay flowers at the monument to the Soviet soldier; they sing, dance and drink. They celebrate the victory of the Soviet Union over Nazi Germany.
The film is a direct reportage from Treptower Park 72 years after the victory.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
CREW
Where Does Homeland Begin? Close-Up on Sergei Loznitsaʼs "Victory Day"on Notebook MUBI, 2019-02-14, www.mubi.com
May 9, 2017. Belarus-born, Ukraine-raised, and now Berlin-based filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa brings his camera to Treptower Park, in former East Berlin, to document the 61st celebration of Victory Day. What results is rich and knotty work of documentary cinema by one of the great chroniclers (and occasional critics) of 20th century Russian history.
The Fifth Edition of "Art of the Real" Offers Form-Bending History Lessonsby Ela Bittencourt, 2018-04-26, www.villagevoice.com
No selection this year is more steeped in history than Sergei Loznitsa’s Victory Day (2018). His blunt approach made his earlier Austerlitz (2016) stilted and scornful, but Loznitsa is less categorical in the new film.
Time Loopby Ivan Chuviliaev, 2018-02-28, www.kinokultura.com
Although the subject of Victory Day is the celebration of 9 May (the day of the capitulation of Nazi Germany), the film is not about the past: its essence is in the present. The very title of the film is of current interest: Victory Day used to be a significant date for generations of Soviet and post-Soviet Russian citizens; not merely a holiday but an intimate memory ritual dedicated to those who remembered the war, suffered from the war or participated as soldiers.
festivals & awards
- Berlinale International Film Festival Berlin
- Cinéma du réel, Paris
- BAFICI, Buenos Aires
- Art of the Real Lincoln Center, New York
- Hot Docs, Toronto
- Jeonju International Film Festival
- Krakow Film Festival
- Sheffield Doc Fest
- Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
- Black Canvas Festival, Mexico City
- VIENNALE, Vienna
- RIDM, Montreal