Letters from the Silenced Country
A portrait of contemporary Belarus told through the voices silenced by an autocratic regime.
Each story reveals a distinct experience of repression. A father hides from surveillance to avoid arrest and separation from his daughter. A former criminal investigator chooses to leave the system, flees Belarus, and in exile in Poland faces repeated interrogations and a growing sense of deadlock and powerlessness. Kasia, a young student sentenced for protesting, survives through drawing, using her art to preserve a sense of self and to express what cannot be openly said. We also meet 50-year-old Vitold, whose story unfolds through photographs sent by a friend from home – carefully selected fragments of a world beyond the prison walls, offering him moments of freedom while exploring not only what can be seen, but also what remains unseen.
Combining observational footage, archival and found materials, testimonies, and animation based on drawings created in confinement, the film transforms private correspondence into a cinematic space of intimacy, dignity, and reflection, raising questions about sacrifice, solidarity, and the human cost of resistance in a silenced country.
The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival in the Venice Open – Out of Competition section.
Biography
Filmmaker with over ten documentaries to his credit. Born in Baranavichy in Belarus now living in Poland. In 2007 he earned a degree in journalism from the Belarusian State University, and two years later graduated from the Belarusian State Academy of Arts. He fulfils himself as a freelancer and works on television projects. In 2018 he won the IDFA award in the Best Medium-Length Documentary Film category for "Summa". In 2019 he was awarded the Silver Hobby-Horse at Kraków Film Festival. In his latest award- winning black-and-white documentary “When Flowers Are Not Silent” he focuses on women and his own sister, incarcerated during the protests in Belarus.
Screenings
