7 cool documentaries about Belarus made by Belarusians

The heritage of Belarusian documentaries is a separate reason to be proud of the country. Year after year, Belarusian directors release films that collect prestigious awards around the world. Doberman.media tells only a small part of this heritage and introduces 7 cool documentaries that can be watched in the public domain. 

Striptease and War, 2019. Andrey Kutilo  

A wonderful and indicative "documentary" about the conflict of generations and the ideological abyss between two relatives. The film tells about the life of a grandfather and his grandson in a military town in Minsk. Grandfather Anatoly Moiseev is a retired lieutenant colonel of aviation, awarded medals. The man lives by the ideals of the Soviet past and sincerely shares his views with the people around him. 

His grandson, also Anatoly, having mastered the profession of an engineer and tried office work, is trying to realize his dream - to create an erotic dance theater. The film shows the life of two, completely different representatives of their generations, getting along in the same living space. The grandfather constantly lectures his grandson, talks about his youth and does not understand how it is possible to talk on the phone for so long. 

At the same time, the film has very strong and touching shots showing the love of a grandfather for his grandson and vice versa. For example, a pensioner strokes the flag with the logo of the Royal Diamonds grandson's show, and a couple of seconds later the viewer is shown the performance of the guys in the club with him. Or, despite his obvious reluctance, Moiseev Jr. helps his grandfather dig up the garden. 

It is true that life is the best scenario. "Striptease and War" would have turned out to be a cool feature film, but it is a documentary and therefore becomes an invaluable artifact in the history of not only Belarusian cinema, but also independent Belarus as a whole. The film took part in 22 film festivals and received 6 awards. 

We Didn't Know Each Other Until This Summer, 2021. Olga Abramchik 

A lot of documentaries have been filmed about the protests in Belarus, and not all of them are freely available. "We Didn't Know Each Other Before This Summer" is an hour-long documentary project of the Current Time channel.

The film tells about the presidential elections in 2020 and what happened a week after them. The peculiarity of the film is that it consists entirely of videos of Belarusians who participated in protests. People sent these videos to the editorial office of Current Time, Radio Svaboda, as well as to the bots of the telegram channels "May Country Belarus" and "Belarus of the Brain". 

The main strength of the film is in its double documentary. There are no staged shots, verified shooting. You return to the thick of August events again and again. A traumatic and difficult movie, but very important for the history of Belarus. 

"War Does Not Have a Woman's Face", 1981-1984. Victor Dashuk

A seven-part film shot at Belarusfilm, based on the script of the Nobel laureate Svetlana Alexievich. 

Each episode tells about the fate of women during the Great Patriotic War. The episodes were released from 1981 to 1984 and the total duration of the tape takes a little more than two hours. 

The film is based on about 500 tape recordings of Alexievich's conversations with witnesses of the war. Subsequently, these conversations would be included in her book "War Does Not Have a Woman's Face". 

A strong film that shows all the horrors of war. The monologues of the heroines are diluted with military chronicles and this enhances the effect. A difficult film, which nevertheless everyone should watch. 

Common Language, 2020. Olga Tchaikovskaya

A 14-minute documentary short film that explores important and intimate topics. The director returns home to her native Vitebsk and tries to establish a dialogue with her parents as equals—one adult to another.

The film is an example of first-person documentary filmmaking, in which the camera simply captures the family’s touching and significant moments. Olga talks with her parents, asks them important questions, and finds the answers.

"Do you love me, Dad?"

— I love you, I love you. Who else should I love? I love you, I love Vanyushka, and I love Mom. I love everyone.

"Fan," 2017. Andrei Kudinhenko

A touching documentary from the director of the cult film *Occupation: Mysteries*. The film tells the story of Vasya Peshekhod, a fan of the “Dynamo-Brest” soccer club, who, despite his illness, walks to the team’s away games. In 2016 alone, he walked 4,470 kilometers—all without hitchhiking, without money, and spending the nights in the woods.

Together with the film crew, Vasya Peshekhod set out from Brest to Grodno. The trip, including filming, took seven days; without the filming, a fan would have made the journey faster—in 3–4 days.

This is a touching film about a devoted man, showcasing the strong will of an ordinary Belarusian. Fans from Brest, Vasi’s mother, and his brothers attended the film’s premiere at the “Listapad” festival. According to the director, the film I liked it even officials from the Ministry of Culture.

"Agmen," 2017. Yuri Timofeev

A film by “Belarusfilm” that depicts life in rural Belarus without the ideologically sanitized image typically shown on state-run channels. The film tells the story of life in the village of Loktyši in the Gantsevichsky District—more specifically, the work of the unusual “Anti-Bacchus” museum.

The museum’s exhibits consist of empty alcohol bottles, and the museum itself was founded by local resident Nikolai Lenkovets. Like any high-quality film, “Agmen” goes beyond a single theme (in this case, anti-alcohol) and addresses the issue of the decline of Belarusian villages. It is a touching and heart-wrenching film about one’s homeland in Belarus.

"An Ordinary President," 1996. Yuri Khaschevatsky

Many documentaries have been made about Alexander Lukashenko, but Khaschevsky’s *An Ordinary President* is a canonical and iconic work of its era. The title is a play on the film *Ordinary Fascism* by the renowned documentary filmmaker Mikhail Romm, which chronicles the rise of fascism and Nazism.

In 1997, Khaschevsky’s film won an award at the Berlin Film Festival as well as the Sakharov Prize. In Belarus, however, public screenings of the film were banned.

In the space of an hour, Khaschevsky traces Lukashenko’s rise to power and examines his character and habits. *The Ordinary President* is a go-to guide for newcomers trying to understand why things turned out the way they did in Belarus. Despite its age, this “documentary” is more effective than endless analyses and allows for a sober look at what’s happening around us.