Susanna Baranzhieva: Tribute to Rastorguev

Romanian director Radu Jude (1977) is one of the most notable filmmakers of our time. During his master class, the winner of the Silver Bear for best director at the Berlinale will introduce you to his remarkable work in archives, where he carried out thorough investigations that have become the basis for his film works. Today, this approach is nothing unusual, but Jude has perfected it masterfully. His brilliant work with archives can be seen twice at this year’s festival: in the movie The Dead Nation and the short film The Marshal's Two Executions.

As The Yes Men, Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno's (1960) brand of activism has kept them in the headlines in USA for nearly two decades. They have made several feature films. They also created the Action Switchboard website, which was recently launched as a platform for participatory direct action. By injecting humour into drop-dead serious subjects, they provoke laughter and debate from audiences. 

Gustav Deutsch (1952) is one of Austria’s leading film directors. He’s not only a filmmaker, but he’s also an architect and photographer. On the occasion of the release of his latest film How We Live - Messages to the Family, he leads the audience through an examination of the term "home movie", subjecting it to thorough scrutiny. In this master class he presents analyses of his own as well as found footage on film material, guiding viewers through the entire development of the “home movie” from film to digital technology. Don’t expect dry theory - his lecture is built on visual and sensual gratification. 

Sean McAllister (1965) is an award-winning documentary filmmaker celebrated as one of the UK’s most exciting talents. Sean will be describing his unique approach to documentary direction and camerawork. We will learn about what it is like to shoot a film in his home country and home town after spending many years on topics and protagonists in other parts of the world and he will tell us about his new film.

This Russian filmmaker’s feature documentary Putin’s Witnesses (2018) is a portrait of Russia from a unique and unlikely perspective. It is composed exclusively of archival footage shot by director Vitaly Mansky (1963) at the very beginning of Putin’s presidential era. The director will discuss his process of weaving together these materials to create a greater picture in this extended case study of the film.

Krzysztof Zanussi (1939) is one of the pillars of Polish cinematography. Together with Kieślowski and Wajda, he's a part of the trio of the most internationally respected Polish directors who have achieved success both at home and abroad. In his masterclass, Zanussi will introduce his work with young debuting directors as well as student films which he has participated on as a teacher of several prestigious film schools, and share his experience from, among others, Lodz, New York and Moscow. The audience will get a peek under the drape of mystery which veils Polish cinematography and receive an introduction on how to succeed as a young filmmaker in Poland.