When Flowers Are Not Silent
Summer 2020. In Belarus, the presidential elections have just been held. Alexander Lukashenka gained over 80% of all votes. The local opposition and the European Union alike called the voting falsified with a large part of the population rejecting the election results. Peaceful mass demonstrations were brutally suppressed, and the intensity of political repressions were raised to the level of the situation before the breakup of the Soviet Union, leading protesters to take to further rallies and freedom marches.
An emotional black-and-white documentary captures the mood in a country seen from the perspective of several Belorussian families whose members do not fail to hope in a change even after 27 years of Lukashenka’s dictatorship and a great many traumatic experiences.
The film is screened as part of Belarusian competition program of Northern Lights Nordic Baltic Film Festival, a Belarusian film festival in exile.
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.