The Hamlet Syndrome
Elwira Niewiera & Piotr Rosolowski
A few months before the invasion of Russia in 2022, five young Ukrainians take part in a theater production. In it, they try to relate their experiences to Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”. The documentary is a powerful portrait of a dynamic generation – the first born after the collapse of the Soviet Union, shaped by the Maidan Revolution of 2013/2014, strengthened by the democratic change in the country and marked by the Russian war in Ukraine.
There will be an audience discussion afterwards.
Moderation Anja Quickert (Freelance author, Managing Director of the International Heiner Müller Society)
Duration: 1 h. 25 min.
Language: Russian, Ukrainian with German subtitles
За кілька місяців до вторгнення Росії у 2022 році п’ятеро молодих українців беруть участь у театральній постановці. В ній вони намагаються пов’язати свій досвід із шекспірівським „Гамлетом“. Документальний фільм є потужним портретом динамічного покоління – першого, що народилося після розпаду Радянського Союзу, сформованого під час Революції Гідності 2013/2014 років, зміцненого демократичними змінами в країні та позначеного російською війною в Україні.
Опісля відбудеться дискусія з аудиторією.
Модераторка: Аня Квікерт (позаштатна авторка, виконавча директорка Міжнародного товариства Хайнер Мюллер).
Тривалість: 1 година 25 хвилин.
Мова: російська, українська з німецькими субтитрами
Elwira Niewiera
is a Polish-German director and screenwriter living in Berlin. In her artistic work she deals with the political and social upheavals in Eastern Europe in a multi-layered way. Her documentary DOMINO EFFEKT (co-directed with Piotr Rosolo- wski) has been screened at more than 50 festivals worldwide, including IDFA, Hot Docs Toronto and MoMa Doc Fortnight, and won many awards, including the Golden Dove at DOK Leipzig Film Festival and the Golden Horn at Krakow Film Festival. The film received a nomination for the Polish Film Academy Award in the category of Best Documentary . Her latest documentary THE PRINCE AND THE DYBBUK (co-directed with Piotr Rosolowski) premiered at the 74th Venice Film Festival and was awarded, among others, the Lion for Best Documentary and the Polish Film Academy Award for Best Documentary. In 2019, together with Piotr Rosolowski, it was awarded the DEFA-Stif- tung Prize for Young Cinema, and in 2021, the prestigious American Chicken & Egg Pictures Award.
Piotr Rosolowski
is a Polish director, screenwriter and cinematographer living in Berlin. He graduated from the Katowice Film School and received a scholarship from the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne. Co-writer of RABBIT A LA BERLIN – Oscar-no- mined short documentary and co-director of DOMINO EFFECT with Elwira Niewiera. Their most recent documentary THE PRINCE AND DYBBUK won the Lion for Best Cinema Documentary at the 74th Venice Film Festival. Piotr also works as a cinematographer, he has shot many award winning feature and short films including: ON THE LINE dir. Reto Caffi – Oscar nominated short feature THE WALL OF SHADOWS dir. Eliza Kubarska – awarded the annual prize of the Polish Society of Cinematographers.
Director: Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosołowski
Screenplay: Elwira Niewiera, Piotr Rosołowski
Cinematography: Piotr Rosołowski
Editing: Agata Cierniak
Music: John Gürtler, Jan Miserre
Sound design: Jonathan Schorr
Producers: Andreas Banz, Matthias Miegel, Robert Thalheim, Magdalena Kamińska, Agata Szymańska
Production: Kundschafter Filmproduktion Balapolis
Co-production: CANAL + SÜDWESTRUNDFUN
In cooperation with ARTE
In cooperation with Chicken&Egg Pictures
Co-financing by: Polish Film Institute
With the financial support of: Polish-German Film Fund, FFA, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg Creative Europe Media, Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media BKM Grenzgänger Robert Bosch Stiftung Literarisches Colloquium Berlin
With thanks to William ’71 and Elke Durden Literary Series at Bremen Internationale Heiner Müller Gesellschaft