The author of a controversial movie about grandmother’s passport was fired from the Belarusian TV (Video)

An employee of the Belteleradiocompany was called to his management and asked to write a letter of resignation “voluntary termination” after the premiere of his video on the Internet.

The movie “Babushka-2010” appeared on the Internet on 8 November and attracted a lot of interest - 23,000 spectators watched it within the first day. The video was immediately called a “tough anti-Lukashenka propaganda” and noted that it was a film of high quality. And indeed, it was made by a professional – engineer of video editing of Belteleradiocompany, a part-time student of the Academy of Arts Yauhen Shapchits. The budget for this work was zero, the camera was borrowed from friends, and all actors agreed to play without a fee. When the number of viewing was close to 30 000 the video suddenly became inaccessible. Administration of Youtube posted the explanation that “video is of inappropriate content”. A few days after the premiere the director of this film was called to the management and asked leave his position. The author then decided not to preserve anonymity any more.

“It was my first proper swallow of freedom. I wanted to test the system for freedom, but the system responded to my inquiry traditionally. The authorities have a bad sense of humor” - Shapchits said.