“Three men are working on a construction site. The work has been interrupted by five months of imprisonment. The rain suddenly falls like the silence that precedes an eviction.” These words serve as a description of the most recent film made by Elie Maissin and Mieriën Coppens in close collaboration with members of the Brussels collective La Voix des Sans Papiers. But the suggestion of a narrative strand glosses over the actual force of this haunting chamber piece which unfolds like a mystery play: the poetical power distilled from the sophisticated play of light and shadow forms the background against which the characters appear as singular actors of their own existence, sovereign in their ways of doing and their dreams of resistance. 

Peul spoken, English subtitles

Konstantin Lopushansky's graduation film focuses on a few hours in the life of a soloist musician during the siege of Leningrad during WWII. The Leningrad philharmonic is going to play Tchaikovsky's 5th Symphony, which is to be broadcast to England. The soloist, like his fellow musicians, is weak and half-starved, and doubts whether he will be able to perform well enough.

Film print courtesy of Gosfilmofond

Russian spoken, English subtitles