Moscow Diary

Moscow Diary is based upon the diary that Walter Benjamin, German cultural commentor and philosopher, wrote in 1926-27. The diary describes Benjamin’s efforts to get close to Asja Lacis, who he was in love with, his struggle to get around Moscow in the wintery conditions and the political, social and cultural difficulties in a society going through a period of rapid change and self-definition. Filmed on a mobile-phone, I took the role of a latterday flâneur, following the routes that Benjamin describes; going to the locations, filming what is still there, or what has replaced what was once there. Moscow Diary is an illuminating commentary on a century of political change and upheaval. Benjamin’s touching attempts to get close to Ajsa Lacis also gives a human insight into the personal politics and social values of early Soviet society.