Northern Light (СЕВЕРНЫЙ СВЕТ). 2008. France. Written and directed by Sergei Loznitsa. In Russian; English subtitles. 52 min.
On the inhospitable, icy plains above the Arctic circle in Karelia, hundreds of miles north of Saint Petersburg, the villagers of Sumskoy Posad prepare for the winter by gathering firewood and potatoes and celebrate their happy, hardy lives over herring and vodka. Produced, in part, by the Musée du Quay Branly, Paris’s ethnographic museum, Sergei Loznitsa’s Northern Light is a portrait of the Pomors, a distinct ethnographic group of settlers along the shores of the White Sea who were integral to the Russian development of Siberia and have genetic affinities with the indigenous Uralic peoples of the region.
The Letter (ПИСЬМ). 2012. Netherlands. Written and directed by Sergei Loznitsa. DCP courtesy Atoms & Void. No dialogue. 20 min.
Out of time, out of mind. Enveloped in a diaphanous pastoral light, the denizens of a mental asylum in the Russian countryside seem the relict of a Chekhovian past. The silence pierced only by the occasional thunderclap or accordion folk song, they walk on paths, smoke cigarettes, gather the harvest, and exchange a handful of words.
Reflections (ОТРАЖЕНИЯ). 2014. France. Written and directed by Seregi Loznitsa. No dialogue. DCP courtesy Atoms & Void. 17 min.
Sergei Loznitsa’s contribution to the omnibus film The Bridges of Sarajevo, commissioned in tribute to the besieged city during the Yugoslav Wars (1991–2001), superimposes black-and-white portraits of civilians, soldiers, and resistance fighters taken in 1992 by the Bosnian photographer Milomir Kovačević and reflected in storefront windows with everyday urban scenes. The sounds of church bells and the Islamic call to prayer are a testament to centuries of diversity and tolerance.
Program approx. 89 min.