Maxim Shved

Debut short films of Belarusian documentary filmmakers, united by the topic of a social role of internet in modern life.

A film about contemporary Belarus, freedom and art. A mysterious artist appears on the streets of Minsk and starts to paint. Passers-by, intrigued, want to know what he is creating, but the artist will not reveal his secret. Step by step, the viewers learn more about him. His name is Zahar Cudin and he is one of the most promising Belorussian painters.

Mass protests across Belarus erupted following the widely disputed election that put President Lukashenko in office for a sixth term. Three Belarusian filmmakers document personal stories of people caught up in the political turmoil. Filmmaker Maksim Shved was arrested, imprisoned and then released while the protests around him swelled. Meanwhile, Ekaterina Markavets observes the psychological burden of her fellow citizens and worked with professional psychologists to set up a volunteer support service for people affected by current events. Andrei Kutsila followed a celebrated Belarusian broadcast journalist who worked for State TV for nearly 40 years, now in hospital recovering from injuries she sustained while at a protest. All three filmmakers wonder what the future holds for their country and fellow citizens.

A complete chronicle of how Idrak Mirzalizade wanted to film a concert, but everything went terribly wrong.

On August 9, presidential elections were held in Belarus. The results, according to which Alexander Lukashenko won, were not recognized by 14 countries. Protests and mass detentions of protesters have been taking place in the country for more than two months. Documentary director Maxim Shved, in order to capture the mood of people and their political views, installed cameras in the cars of two taxi drivers, Pavel and Anna. They talk to passengers, and inevitably their dialogues come down to politics.

"I'm going out" - were the last words of the young Minsk resident Roman Bondarenko in a telegram chat before he went out into the street to stop unidentified people in civilian clothes tearing down the white-red-white symbols of the protests against Alexander Lukashenko at the "Square of Changes" in the center of Minsk.