Discoveries from Belarus World Cinema

A cycle of mundane violence, lust for art, and existential dread—all chronicled in an unconventional self-titled docu-horror by Nikita Lavretski, who violently edits lo-fi footage of himself from age 0 to age 16.

Oleg Kirillov - coach of the intuitive football team. It's hard to believe, but his wards are members of the national football team of the Republic of Belarus among the blind. Each of them appeared on the field for various reasons, but today they face a common task - to maintain their champion status in the national competition. Kirillov himself grew up in a disabled family and knows well how to communicate with his wards. He is not only a mentor, but also a friend of each of the athletes. An important element of the film is work with sound, it completely restored the sound environment that is natural for players, in which they focus on the noise made by the ball and the clear instructions of the coach.

Even as her nation battles for survival, Olha Stefanishyna, - a young minister - faces the monumental task of securing her country’s future in the EU, giving meaning to that very survival when peace returns.

The teacher scolds Keshka for deuces in English. Instead of doing homework, Keshka succumbs to the persuasion of friends and goes to the video salon for a horror movie with the famous character Freddy Krueger. But Keshka is bored. He falls asleep and has a nightmare.

Egor drops out of the university for the second year in a row and returns to Minsk. Because of such irresponsibility he quarrels with his mother and his girlfriend. Eventually, he is left with no money and no roof over his head. As his 20th birthday approaches, he is overcome with melancholy.

A tragic story of love and betrayal during WWII.

The young father of the family kills his wife and daughter. He realizes that punishment is inevitable, and he can't turn. Oleg decides to avoid punishment and die voluntarily. In the forest, not far from the house, he decides to hang himself, but the wire didn't hold the weight of the chubby killer. After that, Oleg finds a more insidious way to end his life.

Romantic Anya Kadet is a video blogger and employee of the railway depot. One day she meets an eccentric Kulebyakin who damages her. All together - both a real fairy tale and a horror movie. The author was inspired by the prose of Yuri Mamleev, but removes like Hitchcock.

4 short stories about war. A collection of debut works by Belarusian stage directors.

Hiding from the police captain, a prostitute ends up in the room of a quiet, modest pianist from the United States who takes part in a competition in the resort town by the sea. The naive young man gets carried away by a pretty and cheerful girl. In turn, she finds great, sincere love.

Psychotherapist Anna Sergeevna Bochkareva has everything that is considered to be indicators of success and solvency in life. She lectures at the institute, her articles are published in respected scientific publications, she has her own practice and a house in perfect order. But one day the system into which the heroine turned her life is destroyed because of one single meeting. In the charity orphanage where Anna works, a new patient appears - a strange Old Man who has only a few months left to live, and he makes Anna look at many things in a new way - at the events of the past, at the value of human feelings, at repentance and at the meaning of our being...

According to the plot, which is not inferior in intrigue to foreign analogues, honorary members of Chinchinchenel Sergey Nikolaevich and Nikolai Sergeevich arrive at the Lyad psychiatric hospital No. 1 to visit a mysterious patient, Elena Stomach. And nothing foreshadows anything unexpected, but further events will make even a sophisticated moviegoer raise an eyebrow in surprise.

The Belorussian Soviet Republic got their independence 25 years ago. The sovereign state is now home to a generation aged 25 – the same age as Belarus. People call 25 the "quiet crisis age"…

A witty and sensitive observation of people visiting Central Park of Tokyo – YoyoGi. We all live in a world of online communication and rush, but there are places where one can still come to him/herself in offline. Following Japanese tradition of contemplation and harmony, an Estonian director explores Eastern way of finding the balance through nature and solitude. Hauki poetry, written especially by a well-known Japan-researcher from Tallinn Rein Raud add a new angle to the whole picture, turning the film into an endless meditation flow.

The film unfolds during 30-40-s of last century and follows a story of a pair of women's shoes, from a store's window to the common grave at the Auschwitz concentration camp. There are no dialogues in the film and no faces are shown.

A director gathers the final testimony of an irradiated woman, a Belarusian victim of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster.

A mother and daughter returning from their vacation experience car trouble forcing them to pull over and seek help. Luckily near by is a farm where the inhabitants offer them assistance. Unfortunately repair to the car takes longer then expected and the mother and her daughter remain as guests. As a result the peace and tranquility of the household becomes tested as the farmers traditions and principles come under question almost ending in tragedy.

War never changes

A group of Belarusian anti-Soviet insurgents from the failed Slutsk Defence Action wanders through forests, fleeing the from the surrounding Bolshevik army. To escape captivity or death in battle with a subsequent identification of their bodies and retaliation against their families, the insurgents decide to commit group suicide in a place hidden from the Bolsheviks.

Winter has come to the city. And it has come in the form of a cold noir lady.

Lyosha Lyshenko, the enfant terrible of Russian-language stand-up, tells jokes about maniacs, the rapper Husky, and Idrak Mirzalizade's underpants, but mainly he performs tricks, dances, and stunts.

A documentary about the closure of a very strange gallery of modern art, which been exists about two months in the center of Minsk in the spring of 2015 and attracted an average of 0-4 visitors per day. In the role of the founder of the gallery — actionist artist Dmitry Veleskevich.

Kostya, a once hopeful producer, is now out of business: his creative idea, which promised him fame and fortune, has failed miserably. And now he has no other choice but to move with his family to Vileysky district of Belarus. Here is his family nest - inherited old manor with a stunning park. Maybe all is not lost yet? A resourceful entrepreneur decides to take a rather risky step - to turn the estate into... an amusement town called "Kinder-Ville" - a kind of Belarusian Disneyland! Everyone likes the idea, except for the oldest inhabitant of the house - the evil spirit of the wizard, who was buried in the basement for cruelty in ancient times. No self-respecting ghost would tolerate crowds of clamoring kids in the neighborhood! So, at any cost it is necessary to expel the noisy family...

Teenager Igor finds himself in an unexpected situation: he is detained on suspicion of a crime.

The first-ever independent Belarusian film featuring a famous Belarusian rap band. The users of dating website - a pianist Michael and a physicist Olesya - meet in a cafe. They have a fight. Later it turns out that they are the spouses who participate in an experiment of the psychologist Vera, Olesya's sister. It doesn’t help the couple to reveal their secrets to each other.

Igor and Sveta visit Igor's hometown. Igor wants nothing more than to spend the weekend recording a fun vlog with his girlfriend when a talk with his mom uncovers more of a pressing problem in his relationship with Sveta.

Two young guys, an unsuccessful businessman and a programmer, left without a job, accidentally get a chance to realize their "Belarusian dream" - to earn a lot of money at once. Introducing themselves as Belarusian movie producers, they undertake to shoot some war scenes for a Moscow film group, but everything starts to go wrong. A fashionable Moscow director and a famous cameraman have already arrived, movie stars are on their way... And the new producers are facing a clash with bandits and prison for fraud.

The documentary film narrates about blacklist swamps destined to drainage and life stories of its habitants. The film acquaints us with unusual beauty of swamps that save water, make the climate mild, are shelter for many species of birds and animals, as well as for the ancient legends. The film addresses the topic of swamps ecosystem devastation as a result of peat extraction. The audience will hear stories of locals about how their life and home changed by peat reclamation.

Thrust into an empty room and prompted by the relentless turning of a music score's pages, Tchaikovsky is forced to revisit the traumas and successes of his life, reaching some acceptance.

A short documentary by Nikita Lavretski.

Minsk. December 19th 2010. After the Belarus government blatantly hijacked the results of the presidential election, tens of thousands of Belarusians came to the streets in a peaceful protest. Tired of a ubiquitous system of lies, these demonstrators set their sights on truth and freedom.

Three months before elections the president of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenka claimed: "You have no other choice, you will vote for me!" We were trying to figure out how did it happen that 83% of the population voted for Lukashenka? The film tracks the opposition struggle during few post-election days. The movie shows the falsehood of the official propaganda and the ambiguous, sometimes polar, attitude of simple people. Assembling together all the debris of the opinions, comparing different historical events, jeering at dictator's arrogance and manners, admiring courage and dedication of the young generation, the feature approaches the understanding of what is really going on in the middle of Europe. And one more thing -the director's sarcastic comment throughout the film does not make you bored!

Based on the novel of the same name by Nikolai Cherginets. The film begins in the spring of 1941 and ends with the first months after the liberation of Belarus. In the center of the plot of the film – the story of three brothers Kuprevich. Police Lieutenant Alexei Kuprevich receives an appointment as an operative in one of the districts of Western Belarus. His task – to neutralize the rampant gang there "forest brothers". War begins. Alex and his brother, senior police Lieutenant Peter Kuprevich receive the first combat mission: to destroy the landed settlements under the German assault...

Lydia Nikitina has achieved everything in life by herself. She brought up her daughter alone, and raised her business from scratch. Now she owns a small chain of confectionery shops. Lydia is certainly being courted by men, but she does not see anyone among them, with whom she could tie her life. She devotes herself to her daughter Tanya. But lately Tanya quarrels with her mother more and more often because of her husband Artem, whom Lida considers a slacker and a slacker. He also hopes to open his own business, though not without the financial help of his mother-in-law. Suddenly, Lida's examination reveals a serious illness....

Residents of the “375 kilometer” village are very funny, energetic and inventive people. They plow the land on a tank, but nevertheless try to keep up with civilization: they have their own mobile phone with which the postman Granny Nyura drives around. The main character Vanka needs a phone exclusively for accessing the Internet - in faraway Australia, his virtual lover lives. However, the neighbor girl Varka, secretly in love with the hero, is not ready to put up with the existence of a rival. Varka is trying in every possible way to attract the attention of her love interest. Only not everything goes according to plan ...

Sanyok, an orphanage pupil, decides to find parents for himself and his ward Alesya. The boy is forced to play by adult laws, which puts him before a serious moral choice.

The company of young people falls into the forest outback on a mysterious lake and is faced with mystical horror. Based on the Belarusian legend that with the advent of night, everyone who died in the water turns into monsters that take the living with them.

Simple story about two Belarusian young people in love.

1925. There have been unrest in Western Belarus for four years now, there is a guerrilla war going on, and Soviet intelligence agents are working. And attempts by local residents to defend at least their own faith and church end in brutal suppression.

The film tells about what happened during and after the presidential elections in Belarus in 2020. The film is based solely on footage filmed by participants or eyewitnesses of protests in Belarus. And it chronicles the first week after voting day.

Filming the diploma project turns into a very exciting and educational adventure for the young students of Minsk State Academy of Arts. In one of the episodes of the film, Vlad and Daria take part in a motor rally for the Independence Day of the Republic of Belarus in a vintage car, participate in the “Let’s Sing the Anthem Together” campaign, visit museums and meet interesting people,

The film is dedicated to the Belarusian first printer and educator Francysk Skaryn. In a mysterious and magical atmosphere, whether it is a dream or a reality, Francysk Skaryn meets an inquisitive lion at night who can talk. Skaryn answers the intelligent animal's questions, and in this way tells about his life.

How would you live if you had no choice? If you had to hide who you are? What if you had to live in a society where everyone who is different from the "norm" is forcibly corrected? Imagine such a world. And try to live it as a father who could lose his "wrong" child at any moment. Or in the role of a teenager who still doesn't know what it means to be "normal". At the center of the story is the Asinov family. The head of the family, Nikolai Vladimirovich, does everything to make sure that his youngest son Dima succeeds and arranges for him to participate in a startup competition, which turns out to be a very unexpected outcome for Dima.

“We are living on the edge”, says a simple peasant woman from Dubna, a village in Hrodna region. These words sound symbolic: the village is situated on the steep bank of the Neman, and the river keeps undermining the houses and the plots making the villagers seek for new lands.

Sinners unsuccessfully try to get out of hell on the rock. One of them asks for the help of an angel flying by, and he decides to help...

In 1942, the front line passed in the Vitebsk and Novgorod forests, thousands of Soviet soldiers died here. Today, on the Belarusian-Russian border, enthusiasts are looking for human remains that have not yet been buried according to the laws of peacetime, not wartime. According to human laws.

Escaping from her daily routine, a girl gets into an imaginary city of her dreams - Seoul.

Belarus, Winter 2015. The omnipotent president Loukachenko is starting his campaign looking for a 5th mandate. As Kostia celebrates his18th birthday and gets ready to vote for the first time, he takes us around in his village and among his relatives as they all try to understand and conceive their country and their future.

Boy meets poop. Their romance blossoms before drying out.

This Belarussian necropolis is a place where some people can meet with dead family members and spend time on contemplation. Few others try to look for the traces of the past there, some come just for a walk and yet another group engages into family feasting. Next to strollers and contemplators, there sometimes come cats creeping among the tombs and squirrels looking out from trees. Immersed in deadly silence, the cemetery comes to life from time to time, while the faces from tomb photographs, frozen in time, look at all this in silence.

On August 9, presidential elections were held in Belarus. The results, according to which Alexander Lukashenko won, were not recognized by 14 countries. Protests and mass detentions of protesters have been taking place in the country for more than two months. Documentary director Maxim Shved, in order to capture the mood of people and their political views, installed cameras in the cars of two taxi drivers, Pavel and Anna. They talk to passengers, and inevitably their dialogues come down to politics.

Coming from the heart of the Belarusian Rebellion, an intimate portrait of a young woman leading a double life. When her regular self enters emotional turmoil amid self-isolation, her seifuku-wearing magical witch alter ego is keeping the fighting spirit ablaze.

A girl accused of murder must prove her innocence. A detective about the mysteries of the Belarusian countryside.

The young and talented photographer Maxim Kaverin has a good life: an interesting work, the beautiful wife Olga. Suddenly he receives an order for a series of shots of one of the old houses of the city. The hero goes to take pictures and does not suspect what tragedy is going towards.

Magicians in Minsk can be found performing magic tricks every day. What made them choose this career path?

We will hear the echoes of the hot August 2020 for a long time. The first-person stories of the security forces who took part in containing the protests and exclusive episodes of operational filming were collected by the ATN team in the documentary "Confrontation".

Filmed on iPhone 4, a meta-movie about a guy who makes a movie about a guy who makes a movie about a robbery.

The town of Maardu in Estonia organises an annual Ukrainian-themed festival, called 'Sorochinsky Fair' after the short story by Nikolai Gogol. More than 15,000 people come every year. This is the largest Ukrainian fair outside of Ukraine, and it has even been entered into the Ukrainian Book of Records. This festival presents life in all its vividness, variety, and unpredictability, with the beauty contest as its central motif. The protagonists of Gogol's works are transported to the modern day in all their enchanting absurdity, and they fit in pretty well. It is a kaleidoscope of incidents and viewpoints, observed with engagement and curiosity.