Minsk

When the president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, was elected for a sixth term under suspicious circumstances in 2020, it led to the largest anti-government protests in the history of the country. The nearly 200.000 protesters in Minsk were met with random mass arrests, live ammunition and brutal suppression by Europe's last dictator. Married couple Pasha and Julia are on their way to deliver a car to Pasha's ex-wife, and find themselves in the line of fire between protesters and riot police. Over the next hour, their lives are changed forever.

Minsk is an exceptionally intense depiction of the events that took place in Belarus in August 2020. The film is shot in one single take, consistently depicting Pasha and Julia's vantage point. This device creates an emotional intimacy that offers unique access to the terrifying experience that ordinary Belarusians were subjected to by the dictatorship's forces. Minsk is a look at the oppression and torture from up close.