Film Comment:
Alexis
25.05.2010
Spannende Analyse über den Mechanismus von Polizeigewalt, in einem Land in dem Menschenrechte ein Fremdwort ist und die Zivilgesellschaft von einem übermächtigen Staat systematisch unterdrückt wird!
Operation – Stories from the Russian Province
A small town in Siberia becomes the target of a brutal police raid. Why here? This documentary explores the whys, whats, and hows of the event and shows how this type of conflict is happening all around Russia today. A case of police and state authorities going against a small but courageous number of citizens attempting to defend their basic rights.
Credits
Original Title: Die Maßnahme – Eine Geschichte aus der russischen Provinz
Language:
Russian original version with German subtitles, Russian original version with English subtitles
Country of Origin: Germany
Year : 2007
Duration: 37 Min.
Color
Director: Kerstin Nickig
Script: Kerstin Nickig
Camera: Eugen Schlegel, Michal Tywoniuk
Editing: Ralf Ilgenfritz
Sound Mix: Helen Neikes
Music: Die Vierte Variante
Starring/Featuring: Veronika Schachova, Scharafutdimov, Aleksej Rastscheskov, V. Bikbulatov, Zolotoj
Production: time prints Film, Michael Truckenbrodt
Festivals: 2007: Documentary Srebrenièka (HR); Perspektive - Nürnberger Filmfestival der Menschrechte (D); 7 Islands Film Festival, Mumbai (India), New York (USA); FokusFestival, Görlitz (D); 2006: Document 5, Glasgow (UK); dokumentArt, Neubrandenburg (D); MedFilmFestival, Rome (I); Taipei Poetry Festival (Taiwan); Milano Film Festival (I); Chronograph Filmfestival, Chisinau (MD); Tampere Film Festival (FI); Cracow Film Festival (SK); Shooting Europe Filmfestival, Karlsruhe (D); Amnesty-International-Filmfestival, Amsterdam (NL); 2005: One World Berlin (D), Europäische Kurzfilm-Biennale, Ludwigsburg (D)
Awards: 2006: Best Short Film, One World International Documentary Film Festival Prague (CZ); FIPRESCI-Award, Special Mention, International Film Festival Cracow (PL); 2005: Deutscher Kurzfilm-Förderpreis, Europäische Kurzfilmbiennale, Ludwigsburg (D)
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About the Film
When Alyosh went
to have a smoke outside a club in December 2004, he never imagined that he would be beaten up and taken away to spend the night in a police cell. He was not alone; the night ended in a similar fashion for at least 347 other inhabitants of Blagoveshensk, a city in Bashkortostan (an autonomous republic of the Russian Federation). They were victims of a preventive measure ordered by the Ministry of the Interior. The official reason for the raid was to reduce the city's crime rate.
But
Ludmila Alexeyeva, from Moscow's Helsinki Committee, sees it differently: at the time of the 'Orange Revolution' in Ukraine, the authorities in Russia were allegedly afraid of the unrest growing in its autonomous republics. Consequently, they attempted to nip any possible civil disobedience in the bud.
Director Kerstin Nickig focuses on a provincial region in Russia where people have to fight for their basic rights. And Blagoveshensk was not the only city to suffer from an act like this. Last year at least five other cities all over Russia were subjected to such treatment
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