Kirill Serebrennikov: Art and Power in Russia

ARTE, the European public culture channel, celebrates its 30th anniversary in 2022! Aiming to bring Europeans closer thanks to culture and to innovative programmes that encourage reflection, it is more necessary than ever. To understand the great upheavals our world is facing requires analysis, decoding, and contextualising. It is in that state of mind that ARTE is supplementing the programme of the Festival d’Avignon with a series of screenings at the Collection Lambert dedicated to politically-committed artists.

Starting with his first directions in the 1990s, Kirill Serebrennikov has always challenged the taboos and limits of his country. Often considered difficult to perform due to their provocative nature, his plays (Plastilin; an adaptation of Lars von Trier’s The Idiots; Almost Zero) are accompanied by many statements defending freedom of speech and civil rights.
Katja Fedulova profiles this brilliant and famous troublemaker, at once inflexible and able to work with and around public authorities to complete some of his projects. Punctuated by testimonies (including by Olivier Py, who has invited him to Avignon several times), by clips from plays or films, and by archival footage, the film draws an ambiguous picture of cultural life in Russia, marked by conservatism and censorship, but also able to give rise to vibrant alternative projects… up to a point. Fascinating.

Documentary by Katja Fedulova

Presented by Marie Labory (ARTE Journal)
Followed by an encounter with Kirill Serebrennikov (to be confirmed)

Production Saxonia Entertainment (Germany, 2018, 52mn)
With ARTE