The Letter
Russia, The Netherlands2012documentary20'Retrospektywa Sergeia Loznitsy (2018)
A dreamlike picture of a psychiatric hospital in the North-East of Russia. The facility is located among forests, in old wooden buildings. The mysterious atmosphere of this refuge is, once in a while, interrupted by the sound of an approaching storm and snippets of conversations, difficult to decipher. In this short study of one place, the director has mastered the art of de-dramatisation to perfection by observing the lives of the mentally ill from a distance. Impressionist photographs and economic editing magnify the sensation that time stopped here a long time ago.
- directed by
- Sergei Loznitsa
Ukrainian director of documentary and fiction films. In 1987 he graduated from the Kiev Polytechnic with a degree in Applied Mathematics. Between 1987 and 1991 he worked as a scientist at the Kiev Institute of Cybernetics. In 1997 Loznitsa graduated from the Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow. He has been making documentary films from 1996, 16 of which won awards at numerous festivals. His fiction films include My Joy and In the Fog.
- sound
- Vladimir Golovnitski
- editing
- Sergei Loznitsa
- production
- Maria Choustova-Baker, Sergei Loznitsa (Atoms & Void BV)
- Photo
