Recall the key event of world history, the August Coup of 1991 which thawed the Cold War and dealt a death blow to the grandiose political octopus of USSR, with DAFilms.com. Admire period documentary footage sewn together by the masterful directorial hand of Sergei Loznitsa. Watch the world online premiere of Loznitsa’s latest film THE EVENT in the week from August 15 to 21 for free!
The documentary found footage montage THE EVENT is the latest film by globally acclaimed Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa. Renowned primarily for his lyrical film language, often dominated by black-and-white aesthetic and long, contemplative takes, the director follows up his successful observational opus MAIDAN. There he set out to the very heart of the Ukrainian revolution of 2013, to Kiev’s Maidan Square, where he managed to capture the sharp contrast between the enthusiasm of the first protest weeks and their later bloody outcome.
THE EVENT takes the viewers to the centre of events of the August Coup which shook the streets of Moscow between August 19 and 21, 1991. It was launched by the conservative branch of the Communist Party which frowned upon Gorbachev’s attempts at transforming the USSR. His political and economic reforms, known as perestroika and glasnost, aimed to create a federation of independent republics with a common president and political vision, finally led to Gorbachev’s short removal from the presidential post. However, the group of politicians who called themselves “The State Committee on the State of Emergency” did not gain the support of armed forces while the citizens of Moscow significantly resisted their attempt. They took to the streets, forming mass gatherings requiring the dissolution of the USSR and the formation of democratic Russia. As proved by the later course of events, it was the August Coup that helped install Boris Yeltsin as the political leader of the country and led to the final dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991.
"Loznitsa’s editing is unsurprisingly masterful in building his story without feeling like manipulation, and as usual in his documentaries, there is no imposed narrative and no voiceover. The images themselves are unmistakably Eastern European in feel, crisply black-and-white with pronounced contrasts of grey-scale tonalities. For anyone with a sense of history, the sight of crowds gathering outside the Winter Palace, or anti-communist placards decorating the Alexander Column in Palace Square, can’t fail to send chills, tapping into past, present and future." Jay Weissber, Variety
Switch from the hot beach to the key moments of modern history which defined the current form of the map of the world. Return exactly a quarter-century back with the film art of Sergei Loznitsa and see where Europe has gone in 25 years. If a single film by Loznitsa is not enough for you, why don’t you watch his online retrospective or his master class; the latter one for free!
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