Tristia – A Black Sea Odyssey

director: Stanislaw Mucha

original title: Tristia – A Black Sea Odyssey

year: 2014

running time: 98 min.

synopsis

A remarkable travelogue from a trip around the Black Sea: along its shores, lined by the boundaries of six states, and through bizarre seaside resorts. More than the tourist industry or political problems, the film focuses on solitary statues, decaying architectural monuments, and the personal stories of the local people. From each stop on their journey, the filmmakers send a series of stylized video postcards with the playfulness of staged scenes, set against the backdrop of the sea. In this cinematic answer to Ovid’s Black Sea lamentations, that ancient text receives new qualities that tell us about a place that is accursedly beautiful but also beautifully cursed.

DETAIL:
“When the Roman Emperor Trajan came here, his legionnaires quickly went about producing children with the beautiful Dacian women. Thus the Romanian people is a combination of whores and bandits.”

biography

Polish documentarian Stanisław Mucha lives and works in Germany. He studied at the University of Film and Television in Potsdam-Babelsberg, and received international acclaim through his films Absolut Warhola (2001) and The Center (2004). His documentary Reality Shock (2005) was screened at Jihlava. He also directed the final part of Kieślowski’s trilogy Heaven, Hell and Purgatory, entitled Hope (Nadzieja, 2007).

more about film

director:	Stanislaw Mucha
producer:	Gerd Haag
script:	Stanislaw Mucha

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