Special screening State Funeral on October 11
A special screening of State Funeral is scheduled for Monday 11 October at 8.00 pm. Special because prior to the film director Sergei Loznitsa will speak with Raymond van den Boogaard (journalist, historian, former Russia correspondent for NRC Handelsblad).
Please note: the film will be screened on this evening with English subtitles, while also the preceding interview will be conducted in English.
State Funeral
In 2018, Belarusian-Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa made The Trial, a documentary about the first show trials held in the Soviet Union in 1930, in which the regime eliminated (alleged) political opponents. It turned out to be a prelude to more show trials and major purges a few years later. Key figure behind it was Joseph Stalin, the Great Leader, who finally died himself on 5 March 1953. How that went and what happened immediately afterwards was the subject of The Death of Stalin, a 2017 black comedy film directed by Armando Iannucci.
Actual archive footage of events surrounding Stalin's death also exists. Sergei Loznitsa again dove into the archives, gathering material to compile this documentary. From the broadcasters, newspapers and posters announcing the news of the dictator's death in bombastic tones on 5 March itself, to the endless procession of mourners sobbing while paying their last respects to their "Red Czar", to the ceremonial burial in the mausoleum.
