Ungewollte Verwandtschaft

In the civilian victims‘ accounts of the Russian and Belarusian occupation there are descriptions of torture and repression that appear to be systematic in nature. Taking these accounts as a starting point, a Belarus filmmaker tries to understand what this war of annihilation has to do with him and what is his responsibility in it all.

"Six months after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army withdraws from some occupied regions and settlements, leaving a trail of shockingly similar traces of war crimes. In the reports from several human rights organisations and independent groups of journalists, there is increasing evidence that Russian and Belarusian troops in the occupied territories have also been pursuing the systematic destruction of the civilian population’s national identity. Based on accounts from civilian victims, the filmmaker addresses this system of oppression. The individual statements are voiced by two Ukrainian actors, while the streets of his Berlin neighbourhood serve as the film’s backdrop. To determine the responsibility he himself might bear for this war, the filmmaker reflects on his childhood and school education in post-Soviet Belarus."
(Berlinale)