Victory Day

Erected in Berlin in the late 1940s to commemorate the Red Army’s fallen soldiers during WWII’s final battle for Berlin, the Soviet War Memorial is one of the most impressive monuments in the city. Every year, on May 9, the day marking the Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, it becomes a pilgrimage site for celebrators in fancy dress and Red Army uniforms carrying flags, placards, and flowers, who sing, dance and drink to oblivion. Esteemed director Sergei Loznitsa documents the site on Victory Day from the early morning hours into the night. Through his camera, we witness a unique choreography and the remarkable significance this event carries for so many seventy-two years after the War.

Screened together with two short films by Loznitsa, "Reflections" (2014) and "The Old Jewish Cemetery" (2015).