The Russian House Cinema Club in Brussels presents, in honor of the 80th anniversary of the Great Victory:
The series “About People and About War” consists of short stories produced by Artel Films, based on real-life accounts from eyewitnesses who endured the hardships of war between 1941 and 1945. These stories range from tragic and heroic to even ironic events. The protagonists are young men and women who had their whole lives ahead of them—dreams, plans, love, happiness, and creativity. But then the war intervened…
It was the human qualities of each person who stood to the death with a weapon in hand during this harsh time, where the forces of good and evil clashed, and everyone was ready to do anything for victory, that became the force that crushed Nazism.
Over time, preserving the memory of our ancestors’ heroic deeds becomes increasingly challenging. With these films, the creators aim to remind us that even in the darkest and most terrifying times, people are capable of showing the best qualities of the human spirit: courage and self-sacrifice, creativity and humor, compassion and love. This project is about People.
Part III
Baby
2024 • 11 min
During the Great Patriotic War, six-year-old Ada Zanegina wrote a letter to the newspaper Omskaya Pravda. She donated the money she had saved for a doll to the Defense Fund — asking for it to be used to build a tank.
Olesya
2024 • 11 min
In a village occupied by the Nazis, a high-ranking SS officer — a Standartenführer responsible for burning eight villages with their inhabitants — is expected to arrive. Partisans plan a raid on the village to eliminate him.
Heart
2024 • 11 min
A group of Soviet soldiers inspects a factory building taken in battle, collecting weapons and documents from dead German soldiers, and gathering their own fallen. A machine gunner searches a dead German for cigarettes and finds a photograph of him with a girl…
Leave
2021 • 9 min
1944. Soviet troops enter an abandoned village and find a lone German soldier, who claims to be on leave. But there are no simple leaves during war.
The Photographer
2023 • 9 min
A young man works in a photo studio in a Nazi-occupied town, developing film for Germans — including photos they’ve taken themselves. Locals view him as a collaborator. But he secretly keeps copies of those photos, which often depict atrocities. Later, these copies serve as evidence at the Nuremberg Trials.
🎬 English subtitles.
