The documentary Maidan, depicting the events of Ukraine’s Euromaidan revolution, has won the grand prize at the Nuremberg International Human Rights Festival, as reported on the festival’s website. The film director Sergey Loznitsa received the Grand Prix on Tuesday, October 6, along with the cash prize of EUR 2,500.
Sergei Loznitsa’s picture Maidan chronicles the three months of the Euromaidan revolution, from December 2013 to February 2014. The two-hour film is a gallery of long shots, which change gradually. The drama is created by the events themselves, with the camera only capturing the reality.
“Before starting to create the film, I had to define rules by which it will be made,” Loznitsa commented at a press conference. “I decided to use a static camera. My film is about people. I didn’t want protagonists, so I just decided to hold the camera in one plane. My guide was Eisenstein’s Strike.
The film shows the revolutionary events in Kyiv in quiet close-ups, with no comments, statements or value judgments. The footage with flying flags, burning barricades, and unarmed people speak for themselves, according to the jury’s evaluation.
The film about events in Ukraine was first shown at the International Film Festival in Cannes in May 2014. Its author, director Loznitsa, was born in Belarus and raised in Ukraine. Since 2001, he lives and works in Germany.
Sergei Loznitsa is considered to be one of the best filmmakers in the world. His films, such as Settlement, Portrait, or Blockade have won numerous prizes at film festivals. Maidan was made freely available in the internet on the first anniversary of the Euromaidan revolution. You can watch it in the header of this article.
