The Moscow Trials at Fanatika Theatre Documentary Festival
In the summer of 2012, when the punk activists of Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years' imprisonment in a penal colony for their performance in the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the world reacted with widespread protest rallies. The film by Milo Rau documents the project and illuminates the historical and political backgrounds.

The 4th edition of Fanatika International Theatre Documentary Festival (FITDF) 
from 6-7-8 February 2015 in Ahmedabad
presents

MILO RAU 
THE MOSCOW TRIALS 
Documentary Film about the homonymous theatre project 
Germany 2014, 86 min (Russian with English subtitles)

In the summer of 2012, when the punk activists of Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years' imprisonment in a penal colony for their performance in the Moscow Cathedral of Christ the Saviour, the world reacted with widespread protest rallies. Yet this was only the latest episode in a ten-year series of show trials of artists and dissidents, staged by Putin's system to prevent any form of democratic change.

Rau thematises this issue by drawing on the techniques of political theatre: from March 1 to 3, 2013, a courtroom was set up at the Moscow Sakharov Center to provide a stage for a threeday show trial that pitted the different sides of the cultural war waged in Russia against each other. Yet the people on stage were no professional thespians but real-life actors: artists, politicians, church leaders, real lawyers and a real judge. A jury composed of seven Moscow citizens finally handed down their sentence - an acquittal, albeit by a narrow margin, for the artists.

The 3-day-trial, stormed by the Russian authorities and by units of the cosacks, led to an international scandal and a travel ban against the director Milo Rau. The film "The Moscow Trials" documents the project and illuminates the historical and political backgrounds. 

Concept and Direction: Milo Rau 
Camera: Markus Tomsche 
Sound: Jens Baudisch 
Stage: Anton Lukas 
Assistant Director: Yanina Kochtova 
Editing: Lena Rem 
Production: Arne Birkenstock 
French Translation: La Bâtie - Festival de Genève

www.international-institute.de 

For schedule and timings please visit the Festival website.