Grozny Dreaming (Switzerland, 2008)
Director: Mario Casella, Fulvio Mariani
In the summer of 2007 the Caucasian Chamber Orchestra organized a peace tour though the Caucasus with Grozny as a final destination, a tour which was followed by the film team for this documentary. The orchestra, with musicians from all the republics of Caucasus, and its German-Georgian conductor, is a demonstration that it is indeed possible to live and work together, side by side, even among people from different religions, cultures and ethnic origins. Their aim is to show that music is a unifying force across borders and boundaries, a symbol for peace and mutual understanding, in a region that has been the theatre of wars, massacres and interethnic tensions for centuries. This documentary shows the genesis of this project and backstage events, as well as the joys and pains of this musical and human project...
Kholodomor (Famine in Ukraine, Hungary, 2008) Director: Igor Hidvégi Kholodomor tells the story about the famine which occurred in the Ukrainian Socialist Soviet Republic in 1932–1933 during which around 8 million people starved to death over 500 days, because of the Soviet policies laid out by Lenin that forced farmers into collective farms (kolkhozes) and eventually crushed the large Ukrainian peasantry, leading to an unprecedented famine. The Holodomor is considered as one of the greatest national calamities to have affected the Ukrainian nation in modern history. The documentary analyses the ideological, economical and political context of this tragedy and examines the various possible root causes of the famine. It features interviews of experts, witnesses, politicians (including the President of Ukraine, Victor Yuschenko) and many archive images.
The Red Baton: The Scenes of Musical Life in Stalinist Russia (France, 2004) Director: Bruno Monsaigeon From 1917 to 1990, the Soviet Union was the locus of a fascinating paradox which this film highlights: In a context of extreme material and psychological hardship, even terror, there flowered some of the richest, most intense musical activity of the twentieth century. Brilliant performers, major composers, great orchestras exercised their art during these 70 years in dangerous and precarious conditions that were sometimes grotesque, always gruelling.
Piotr Anderszewski - Unquiet Traveller (France, 2009) Director: Bruno Monsaigeon Structured as a road-movie from Warsaw to Budapest in a special train car with the famous Polish-hungarian pianist Piotr Anderszewski, this new film by Bruno Monsaingeon will capture the most important events of the pianist`s current activities. |
