The film takes you through the interplay of the real and imaginable, the collective and personal and poses a question: How and why was the collective memory related to the Second World War manipulated? Public commemoration, the aggressive patriotic upbringing of children, the cult of victory formed a war-oriented identity and national narratives in Russia. In contrast, the individual memory about WWII among those who experienced it reflects on the violent and tragic side. Can this discrepancy between individual and collective memory be a loophole to break out of the nationalist narrative when remembering past events?

© Dorothea Dittrich

© Dorothea Dittrich

© MH

The film takes you through the interplay of the real and imaginable, the collective and personal and poses a question: How and why was the collective memory related to the Second World War manipulated? Public commemoration, the aggressive patriotic upbringing of children, the cult of victory formed a war-oriented identity and national narratives in Russia. In contrast, the individual memory about WWII among those who experienced it reflects on the violent and tragic side. Can this discrepancy between individual and collective memory be a loophole to break out of the nationalist narrative when remembering past events?

Specifications

Two-channel video installation
15:35 min
B&W
Sound
English, Russian spoken language
Hand-dyed fabrics, gauze, 16 pieces, 70 × 250 cm
Hand embroidery, cotton, 80 × 300 cm
Hand-made carpets, cotton, faux leather, corduroy, 2 pieces, 220 × 80 cm

2023

Credits

Cinematography: Jeanna Kolesova
Editor, CGI, VFX, colorist, motion capture, voice recording, title design, subtitles: Jeanna Kolesova
Sound design: Alina Anufrienko
Dialogue editing: Vica Kravtsova
Characters’ voices: Maxim Avdeev, Syanda Iaptik, Jeanna Kolesova, Gleb Kovalski, Vica Kravtsova, Kira Shmyreva
Translators: Tilman Fries, Vica Kravtsova

Publications

Make Voiced Be Heard, FOTOGRAF Magazine, Vol. 47, Prague 2024, pp.16-17
When the past becomes a weapon the future disappears, Catalog, published by Goldrausch Künstler*innenprojekt, Berlin 2024

Exhibited

10/2024 Make voices be heard, Fotograf Festival #14, Prague, CZ
08/2024 I only work with lost and found, Kunstraum Kreuzberg, Berlin, DE
05/2024 UdK Art Awards, University of the Arts, Berlin, DE
12/2023 Bridges of Remembrance, Museum des Kapitalismus, Berlin, DE
11/2023 Karl Hofer Scholarship Award, University of the Arts, Berlin, DE
07/2023 Graduation show, University of the Arts, Berlin, DE

Screened

11/2024 Rencontres Internationales, Paris, FR
01/2024 Art in Lov, Loviisa, FI
09/2023 Münzberg Forum film competition, 1st Place Award, Berlin, DE

To see

Excerpt 5 min