a documentary by askold kurov (estonia/ poland/ czech ... · lytvynenko to work on a documentary...

a documentary by Askold Kurov

(Estonia/ Poland/ Czech Republic, 2017, 70 min)

“Cowardice is the greatest sin on earth”.

www.facebook.com/ReleaseOlegSentsov/

http://www.facebook.com/ReleaseOlegSentsov/


A Marx Film / Message Film production in co-production with Czech Television

with the support of the Polish Film Institute and B2B Doc

Titles: The Trial: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentsov (Eng)/ Protsess: Venemaa riik Oleg Sentsovivastu (Est)/ Процесс (Rus)/ Процес (Ukr) Director: Askold Kurov Producers: Maria Gavrilova, Max Tuula, Dariusz Jabłoński, Izabela Wójcik, Violetta Kamińska Co-producer: Alena Müllerová Idea: Askold Kurov, Andrii Lytvynenko Cinematography: Askold Kurov Editing: Michał Leszczyłowski, Evgeny Zaozernykh Original music: Sorin Apostol Executive producers: Olga Zhurzhenko, Jiří Vlach, Max Tuula, Maria Gavrilova

Color grading/Graphic design: mental dRive studio Sound: Sorin Apostol with participation of Fahot Production House Key characters: Oleg Sentsov, Dmitry Dinze, Natalya Kaplan, Gennady Afanasyev, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Alina Sentsova, Vlad Sentsov, Ludmila Sentsova, Kirill Rogov, Svetlana Sidorkina, Alexander Popkov World sales: Rise and Shine World Sales

Contacts: RISE AND SHINE WORLD SALES Schlesische Str 29-30 10997 Berlin Germany +49 30 4737 2980 [email protected]

MARX FILM Iirise 5 – 257 10616 Tallinn Estonia +372 530 40 483 [email protected]

MESSAGE FILM Marii Kazimiery 23E 01-670 Warsaw Poland +48 22 8518440 [email protected]


mailto:[email protected]






SYNOPSIS Oleg Sentsov is a Ukrainian filmmaker, Euromaidan activist and native of Crimea. After the Russian annexation of Crimea, he became an active opponent of the occupation. In May 2014 he was arrested by the Russian security service, charged with planned terrorist attacks and transported to Moscow. After over a year in custody, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison, despite the fact that the testimonies were given under duress and evidence was insufficient. Sentsov never pled guilty. Director Askold Kurov follows the progress of the trial and the attempts of Oleg’s family, friends and lawyers to save him from prison. The notorious case inspired protests around the world: the European Film Academy and many renowned filmmakers such as Pedro Almodovar, Wim Wenders, Agnieszka Holland, Ken Loach, Johnny Depp and others called for Oleg’s release. Kurov’s investigation gradually reveals an absurd and frightening Kafkaesque story about how anyone can become a victim of a ruthless state machine.








BACKGROUND After Ukraine gained its independence in 1991, its leadership kept vacillating between the West and Russia for over two decades. The 2014 Euromaidan Revolution made a final choice in favor of the West. In response, in March 2014, Russian undercover troops occupied Ukraine’s mostly Russian-speaking Crimea and held a vote that resulted in Crimea becoming a part of Russia. An active minority of Crimeans strongly opposed the annexation, among them the acclaimed filmmaker Oleg Sentsov. His debut Gaamer had premiered in Rotterdam and screened in multiple festivals, and his new work-in-progress Rhino has already been acknowledged by European film professional events. Sentsov was an ardent participant of the Euromaidan protests. After the accession of Crimea to Russia, he helped the Ukrainian military, blockaded at their bases, and initiated various peaceful activities against Russian occupation. In May 2014, Sentsov and three other Crimeans were arrested by the Russian FSB on terrorism charges.




HISTORY OF THE FILM The project was conceived simultaneously in Ukraine and Russia in 2014, after Oleg Sentsov’s arrest. In Kyiv, Oleg’s producer Olga Zhurzhenko (who had collaborated with him on Gaamer and Rhino ) engaged young Ukrainian director Andrii Lytvynenko to work on a documentary about the case. At the same time in Moscow, Russian documentarian Askold Kurov started following the court proceedings, as he felt he couldn’t stay aloof. Having learnt about each other, they joined their efforts. The same year the Estonian company Marx Film (producers Max Tuula and Maria Gavrilova), which had been involved in production of politically-themed documentaries, came on board. As the project moved forward, Askold Kurov became the only director of the film with Marx Film as the main producer, while Lytvynenko remained a co-author and one of the DoPs and Zhurzhenko an executive producer. In 2015, the Polish company Message Film (producers Dariusz Jabłoński, Izabela Wójcik, Violetta Kamińska) entered the project as a co-producer. Later the Polish Film Institute decided to allocate its funding to the film. The production team was also joined by Czech Television as a minority co-producer and supported by the Swedish fund B2BDoc which focuses on cooperation of the filmmakers living between the Baltic and Black Sea. Ukraine, although not being a production partner, also had a strong involvement through crowdfunding and providing talents and various services (such as postproduction, translation, promotion). Many Russian filmmakers largely contributed to the project as well, showing their disapproval of the fabricated case.




DIRECTOR'S NOTE Sometimes it’s difficult to remain just an observer. The idea of the film grew out of my own weakness, my inability to change the dark future that was awaiting Oleg Sentsov—a man who just wanted to live in a free country and make movies. Knowing Oleg personally, I was worried about him, and it was impossible for me to believe that he could be guilty of any of these preposterous charges and put up with what’s happening to him. We also have a lot in common: we were born in the same country almost at the same time, we had a Soviet childhood, and we became filmmakers almost at the same period. 25 years ago the Soviet Union collapsed; Oleg stayed in the Ukrainian Crimea and I remained in Russia which a year ago came to Crimea itself together with a repressive system that brings back censorship, political persecutions, arbitrariness and nostalgia for the Soviet past. The political situation in Russia makes it harder and harder to stay away from politics, and nothing can guarantee that anyone, regardless of their profession, won’t become a victim of this system. This film is also a chance to show and seek support for Oleg not only from us, but from many people around the world.




“I came to the first hearing as Oleg’s acquaintance—to support him, then I understood that the only thing I could do in this situation was to make a film about it”. – ASKOLD KUROV, interview for Radio Liberty Russian Service “The most difficult was the editing stage. There was a lot of footage, about 200 hours. I wanted to tell about Oleg as a person, his creative work, family and friends, about the trial itself, criminal case, evidence of the Prosecution and Defense and context of the things happening. It was hard to find the right composition”. – ASKOLD KUROV, interview for MK , Russia “The title THE TRIAL refers to a Kafkaesque trial, because the hearings in Rostov-on-Don were absurd and reminded me of a Franz Kafka novel. It makes an impression of a cruel machine that doesn’t accept any reasons of logic and common sense”. – ASKOLD KUROV, interview for MK , Russia “I totally had a feeling that it was some sort of theater, where the judges were just playing according to a script written in advance and the courtroom was a stage set. With all the absurdity of the charges and not a single serious proof of Oleg or Kolchenko’s guilt, I felt it was a theater”. – ASKOLD KUROV, interview for Radio Liberty Russian Service “It was the most complicated film for me. From the very beginning it was clear that the film had many tasks, that it couldn’t be just an auteur picture. One of the concepts used a lot of voiceover narration of the author, another one—animation as a reconstruction of events. But eventually the film organized itself. I will be happy if it somehow helps the campaign in Oleg’s support and helps those who had doubts figure it all out”. – ASKOLD KUROV, interview for Novaya Gazeta , Russia




KEY CHARACTERS Oleg Sentsov himself only appears in the film in the courtroom, behind bars, and in archival footage, but he is undoubtedly the center of the story. Being unable to film Oleg other than that, we had to seek different ways to get closer to him. We had access to the people who knew him well: the other main heroes are those who were fighting for Oleg’s freedom—his cousin Natalia Kaplan, his family and his lawyers—as well as witnesses against him. Natalia was living in Moscow, and her life became totally dedicated to Oleg’s release. After he was sentenced to 20 years of incarceration and transported to a remote high-security prison in Siberia, she moved to Kyiv. Other members of Oleg’s family (his mother and two teenage children—Alina and Vlad) also participate in the film. One of the counterpoints of Oleg’s narrative is the story of Oleksandr Kolchenko, who was charged and sentences on the same case but didn’t attract so much attention. He is a Crimean anti-fascist, and his arrest on charges of involvement in the activities of the nationalist Right Sector sounds like irony. Dmitry Dinze, Oleg’s lawyer (also known for being an attorney for the art group Voina and Pussy Riot), is another important character who helps us investigate the circumstances of the trial and to approach Oleg as close as we can. Political analyst Kirill Rogov gives insight into the context of the Crimean events and helps explain the political motives behind the fabrication of Oleg’s case.




QUOTES “Sentsov committed no crime of violence. He didn’t blow anybody up, didn’t kill anyone. He didn’t do anything that could be considered a high crime. They claim he was making preparations for something, but they still must prove who was preparing what and whether any of this ever actually occurred”. – DMITRY DINZE, attorney for Sentsov “I consider my case to be fabricated and political, because it is based on the testimony of two suspects, which was obtained through torture and which now they are not allowed to recant. They were promised short terms for their testimony”. – OLEG SENTSOV “They drove me to an unknown location, led me up to the third floor, into an office, where they put a bag over my head and began asking me whether I had been planning to blow up certain monuments. They were trying to suffocate me with the bag, but I didn’t lose consciousness. They kept choking me until I almost passed out. During the beating, I ended up on the floor, where they took off my pants and underwear. They showed me a baton, shoving it under the bag. The whole time, they kept telling me to confess to planning bombings, arson attacks, storing weapons and explosives – none of which they ever found, by the way, they never found anything” – from OLEG SENTSOV’s letter “I do not recognize the annexation of Crimea and the military occupation of Crimea




by the Russian Federation. I’m not a serf to be handed over together with the land into another country. I’ve never made any statements about accepting Russian citizenship or renouncing my Ukrainian one” – OLEG SENTSOV in the court “I am confident that our courageous investigators will prove all this, because the Federal Service of Banditry in your country is very capable of stitching together any case. And I am very confident that on April 10 I will be presented with a beautifully crafted criminal case after which I will be sent to prison for 20 years, because this term was voiced to me even before the first day of my official detention. This sentence – 20 years – doesn’t scare me, because I know that the rule of the Bloodthirsty Dwarf in your country will end sooner” – OLEG SENTSOV in the court “Stories of political repression are very important for the media. This is how they [the authorities] deliver signals to elites, activists and the population as a whole what the consequences of their behaviour and the costs are. Inherent absurdity and trumped-up charges work to demonstrate that everyone is defenceless in the face of this machine. A well-known personality is selected – this is an important element, as this demonstrates that being famous does not provide you with any protection” – KIRILL ROGOV, political scientist “We can't act Russian and Christian in this situation without a court judgment.” – VLADIMIR PUTIN “Cowardice is the principal and greatest sin on earth. Betrayal is a particular form of cowardice. A big betrayal sometimes begins with a small act of cowardice” – OLEG SENTSOV’s last word in the court “Why raise another generation of slaves?” – OLEG SENTSOV’s last word in the court “There is still a good third of the Russian population that knows perfectly well what is going on. That does not believe in the fairy-tales of your agitprop. That understands what is happening in the world, what horrible crimes your leadership is committing. But these people are somehow too afraid to speak up. They think that nothing can be changed, everything will be the same, the system cannot be broken, they are alone, there’re too few of us, we'll all be confined in prison, killed, destroyed. And so they remain quiet, like mice in their holes. I simply wish for you to no longer be governed by criminals. The one thing I wish for that the third and informed part of the Russian population is that they learn not to be afraid.” – OLEG SENTSOV’s last word in the court




FILMMAKERS IN SUPPORT OF OLEG SENTSOV Various communities, associations and events around the world expressed their support of Oleg Sentsov and launched multiple campaigns to release him. Among them were the European Film Academy, Polish Film Academy, Russian Film Union and Ukrainian Association of Filmmakers, Berlin, Venice, Warsaw, San Sebastian, Odessa and Motovun Film Festivals, Directors’ Fortnight and Marche du Film, Voice Project and Amnesty International. The crew of THE TRIAL also recorded video messages from famous filmmakers for their Release Oleg Sentsov campaign, a few of which were included in the film. WIM WENDERS, film director “From his own movie and from what I know about him, he was a gentleman, a kind of polite, modest man, certainly not an action hero and certainly no way a terrorist. I’d say: “Oleg, you have friends all over Europe – filmmaker friends and friends in the audience. We are not going to let you down. We are here to try to help you.” ALEKSEI FEDORCHENKO, film director “The history of the last decade has shown that Russian justice can't be trusted, and I don't believe that the trial of Oleg Sentsov will be just. A thief should belong in jail, a filmmaker should make films”.




AGNIESZKA HOLLAND, film director “Unfortunately it’s not the first time in the history that the bare power is trying to crash freedom, independence of the spirit and also the artist. Artists have been quite often in the history victims of terror, of the authoritarian regime. It is because they are not afraid to claim their truth. And the truth becomes the first enemy of the regime.” JOS STELLING, film director “Slowly Oleg Sentsov is becoming an icon of arbitrariness and injustice. Think about your next film, keep dreaming and making plans, no one can take it from you. Be strong! Hold on! From your messages and newspapers we know that you are strong and courageous. Believe in yourself! We are thinking of you and praying for you. We hope that this hell will soon be over. Filmmaking means creating a universe, and soon this universe will be yours again.” MYROSLAV SLABOSHPYTSKY, film director “This story struck me, because in the 21st century, a filmmaker, an artist was captured without any convincing proof of his guilt. A man who didn't kill anyone or steal anything was locked up without a charge or trial. I think it is something flagrant, something beyond human understanding.” MARINA RAZBEZHKINA, film director “I think it is one of the most disgraceful legal cases happening in Russia because the mockumentary they presented to us as proof definitely doesn't stand up to any criticism, it is evidently a bad fake. From the very beginning it was clear that this case is political.” PAVEL BARDIN, film director “I see it as a monstrous injustice that a film director and civil activist is accused of preposterous things and attributed membership of organizations in which he obviously never participated. It is shameful that it is a closed-door process and that they try a citizen of another country after forcibly transporting him to Moscow. It should be stopped immediately. It dishonors all of us.”




DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY

ASKOLD KUROV Born in Uzbekistan in 1974, Askold Kurov has lived in Russia since 1991. After studying philology, theatre, and theology and working for eight years as a package designer, he earned a degree in documentary filmmaking at the Marina Razbezhkina Film School in Moscow. In 2012 he was one of the directors of the award-winning documentary Winter, Go Away! His next films Leninland and Children 404 also won critical acclaim and screened at numerous festivals. His work focuses on human rights issues and social conflicts in contemporary Russia.

FILMOGRAPHY 2017 The Trial: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentov 2014 Children 404 2013 Leninland 2012 Winter, Go Away! (director of one segment) 2010 September 25, 2010 PRODUCERS’ BIOGRAPHIES MARIA GAVRILOVA Born in Moscow, Maria Gavrilova worked in journalism, advertising and filmmaking. For a few years she was the program director of the Texture Film Festival in Perm, Russia and the editor-in-chief of the Russian film magazines Action! and The Booker's Bulletin . Together with Max Tuula, in 2012 she founded the production company Marx Film. The list of the documentaries she produced includes the international anthology 15 Young by Young (the Russian segment) (2012), I Don’t Love You by Kostomarov/Rastorguev (2012, Kinotavr IFF, Warsaw IFF, Minsk IFF), The Term by Rastorguev /Kostomarov /Pivovarov (2014, Karlovy Vary IFF, DOK Leipzig, CPH:DOX, IDFA, Full Frame FF), Kiev/Moscow. Part 1 & 2 (2015, Special Mention in Locarno), My Friend Boris Nemtsov (2016, Best Documentary in Krakow, Best National Film at St Petersburg’s Message to Man FF).




FILMOGRAPHY 2017 The Trial: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentov 2016 My Friend Boris Nemtsov 2015 Kiev/Moscow. Part 1 2015 Kiev/Moscow. Part 2 2014 The Term 2012 I Don’t Love You 2012 15 Young by Young (producer of one segment)

MAX TUULA Born in Vladivostok, Russia, Max is an Estonian producer. He collaborated as a journalist with various film trade magazines and participated in production of several shorts that enjoyed festival success. Max coproduced the experimental docudrama I Don’t Love You (2012, Warsaw IFF) by Kostomarov/Rastorguev and continued to work with the filmmakers on their cross-media project The Term (2014, Karlovy Vary IFF, DOK Leipzig, CPH:DOX, IDFA) and Elena Khoreva’s duology Kiev/Moscow. Part 1 (2015, Special Mention at Locarno IFF) and Part 2 (2015, Special Mention at Verzio IHRDFF). In 2016 Zosya Rodkevich’s My Friend Boris Nemtsov was named Best Documentary at the Krakow FF. Max was also a participant of the 2014 Berlinale Talents and selected as one of the Emerging Producers 2016 by the Jihlava IDFF.

FILMOGRAPHY 2017 The Trial: The State of Russia vs Oleg Sentov 2016 My Friend Boris Nemtsov 2015 Kiev/Moscow. Part 1 2015 Kiev/Moscow. Part 2 2014 The Term 2012 I Don’t Love You 2010 Take Your Dead Men (short)




CO-PRODUCER

Message Film is founded in 1999 and run by three producers: Izabela Wojcik - CEO, Violetta Kaminska and Dariusz Jablonski. The team makes all productions together, jointly deciding about choosing the projects and the way of financing of the film and executing the production. The producers have vast experience in international co-productions, after having produced over 30 features, the same amount of full length documentaries and successful drama series, getting over 200 international and national awards. They co-produced films and series with almost all European countries, from Sweden to Israel and from UK to Russia, but also with US and Canada. They also produced with UK partners two international drama series successfully sold by BBC Worldwide: Spies of Warsaw and The Passing Bells . They were produced for BBC, BBC America, ARTE and TVP. Currently Message Film just completed the shooting of Dovlatov dir. by Alexey German jr, Russian-Polish co-production with the support of Eurimages. The DoP of this movie is Polish Oscar-nominated Lukasz Zal (Ida by Pawel Pawlikowski). Another co-production, Ukrainian-Polish feature film When The Trees Fall dir. by Marysia Nikitiuk is after shooting as well.




a documentary by askold kurov (estonia/ poland/ czech ... · lytvynenko to work on a documentary...

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