Sergei Loznitsa is an award-winning Ukrainian film-maker. He is a graduate of the Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography, and has directed 25 documentary and four feature films since 1996. His 2010 film My Joy was selected for the main competition at the Cannes film festival and his follow-up, 2012’s In the Fog was in competition for that year’s Palme D’Or and won the FIPRESCI prize. Donbass, his fourth feature, won best direction in the 2018 ‘Un Certain Regard’ section at Cannes. His documentary Babi Yar. Context (2021), narrating the story of the biggest massacre of Jews in Ukraine during World War II, received the L'Oeil D'Or Special Jury Prize in Cannes, the Chantal Akerman Award for Best Documentary Film at the Jerusalem International Film Festival and a Special Commendation by the Grierson Award Jury at the London Film Festival. Sergei continues to work on both documentary and fiction projects. His epic documentary, Mr Landsbergis (2021), which tells the compelling story of Lithuania’s fight for independence between 1988 and 1993, received its British premiere on 19 June.
As the Russian invasion in Ukraine has raged, culture has regrettably also become a battleground. Sergei Loznitsa is one of Ukraine’s most distinguished film-makers, with a filmography cataloguing Ukraine’s history and struggle for freedom. Despite this, he was expelled from the Ukrainian Film Academy in March 2022 due to his opposition to a cultural boycott of Russian cinema. He will appear in conversation with our Chairman, David Brummell, when he will discuss the themes he has sought to explore in his film-making, his perspective on the current situation in Ukraine and the abiding importance of culture especially in the time of war.
Please see below a Vimeo link which you will will be able to use to access some of Sergei Loznitsa’s films on payment of a fee.
https://vimeo.com/user39345231/vod_pages