In a country where history casts a long shadow and authoritarianism reigns, a guerrilla festival team commandeer cinemas to champion liberty – if the KGB don’t get there first
It’s the opening night of a film festival in Belarus, the forest country on the fault line between Europe and
Russia that was devastated in the 20th century. Such evenings usually involve red carpets and movie stars, but this one features a black veil covering a big screen, like a mirror at an
Irish wake.
In front of the shrouded screen is an eight-metre pyramid, also covered in black plastic. Music starts. People crawl in slow motion from behind and below the movie screen. They’re dressed in 1940s clothes. Some look homeless, or like shtetl Jews. Minsk was almost 50% Jewish until the Nazis arrived. The slo-mo people uncover the pyramid to reveal a man on stilts, like a Louise Bourgeois spider, who terrorises them. When he finishes, a man walks on stage and says he’s a campaigner against capital punishment in Belarus.