Film About Andrei Sannikov Shown In Seven German Cities

"This Kind Of Hope" tells the story of modern Belarus through the life of the opposition leader.

The documentary film about Belarus "This Kind Of Hope", the main character of which is the leader of the European Belarus civic campaign Andrei Sannikov, has been shown in Germany.

The film was screened in Leipzig, Augsburg, Cologne, Düsseldorf, Nornberg, Munich and Berlin.

"The very feeling of hope" is actually a documentary monologue of Andrei Sannikov, his own story about his childhood, youth, the beginning of his career, the struggle against the regime, his arrest and subsequent forced emigration.

His life path seems to reflect the history of modern Belarus: a failed attempt to make the country European after the end of the USSR, strengthening of Lukashenka, turning away from European values and moving towards Russia, destruction of civil rights, unfair forced elections, lawlessness, arbitrariness of law enforcers. His current reality, like all his previous experiences, also looks like an illustration - this is how a man who was not afraid to stand up for his values even in the face of an enemy superior to him in strength lives his life.

The film's director, Pavel Sichak, has been watching Sannikov for almost ten years: the first shooting took place in December 2013, and the last one - in the summer of 2022," Ksenia Gapchenko, a journalist from Novaya Gazeta Europa, shares her impressions of the film's premiere in Germany.

Andrei Sannikov writes on Facebook that in Munich, the premiere of the film was attended by the president of the International Uyghur Congress, Dolkun Isa.

In Berlin - former German Ambassador to Belarus Andrea Victorin and representatives of the Libereco human rights organisation - Partnership for Human Rights.

There were also Belarusians living in Germany. After the screenings Andrei Sannikov chatted with them about the situation at home.

"Despite the dangers he has endured and the traumas he has suffered, Sannikov remains confident - and honourable. Listening to his story, one finally understands why we should never forget the Belarusian civil protest, the human courage, and why it is necessary to remember all the victims of the criminal regime; not to take what happened for granted and not to grieve that everything was in vain.

The film uses a lot of archival footage, including private ones. Having watched this film, the viewer, especially the European one, will be able to understand more about the situation in the country and that the political crisis in Belarus did not arise suddenly," concludes the journalist of Novaya Gazeta Europe.

We remind you that the premiere of the film took place at the prestigious 58th Swiss Film Festival in Solothurn, Switzerland on January 21, 2023. On November 25, the Polish premiere of 'This Kind Of Hope' took place in Warsaw.