Curated Program: Blossom

March - May, 2024

I am writing this curatorial text on a very sunny February day. It feels as though this warmth should bring joy. However, given that our lives are filled with brutal wars, the rise of populism, global warming, and uncertainty, this delight from the February sun feels undeserved and misplaced; the happiness we derive from it is overshadowed.

But, despite the nihilism and frustration, Spring is always there. Despite everything, this perpetual cycle brings forth sometimes inexplicable feelings of change, renewal, and resurrection. It always blossoms. The DOCA Spring program resembles hope that might show us the way out.

Various documentary and experimental films selected for the program represent emancipation from form and narrative constraints. They explore topics such as love, sexuality, identity, emancipation etc. Guests and the audience will engage in discussions on how to address these topics without ignorance.

It might seem untimely to discuss blossom, but there is no future without contemplating it.

Anna Dziapshipa, curator of the program

Blossom - May, June 2024

movies

Thematic program: What happened in Russia

Winter, go!

Winter, Go Away

Director: Graduates of Marina Razbezhkina School of Documentary Cinema

2012 / 79' / Russia

Sub: Wind ENG

In winter months of 2011-2012, hundreds of thousands of Russians in dozens of cities across the country took to the streets to protest against rigged elections. People of different political views were united under the banner of “For Fair Elections”. Such images of large-scale demonstrations unseen over the last two decades seemed to show eroding public support for the Kremlin.

THE DMITRIEV AFFAIR

Director: Jackika Gorter

Director: Jessica Gorter

2023 / 95' / The Netherlands

Sub: ENG Kar

In this documentary, Yuri Dmitriev unearths what today’s Russian rulers would prefer forgotten. After years of searching, he discovers mass graves in north-western Russia containing the bodies of thousands of people secretly executed during Stalin’s 1936-1938 ‘Great Purge’. Researching victims of Soviet persecution, Yuri Dmitriev is being persecuted himself.

We would like to thank Amirani cinema for providing the cinema for the Film Club.