Two Prosecutors

The USSR during the Great Purge. By chance, young prosecutor Kornyev stumbles upon a letter—an account of injustice—written in blood by a Soviet prisoner. The idealistic lawyer decides to investigate the case, unaware of the price he will have to pay in advocating for humanity. In TWO PROSECUTORS, Sergei Loznitsa continues his exploration of tyranny and violence, presenting what may be the most profound examination of totalitarianism in modern cinema. However, for the first time, he turns down the volume in depicting the virulence of evil, as well as the complicity that outweighs any resistance. The suffocating atmosphere of TWO PROSECUTORS emanates from the dead calm of Loznitsa’s approach. The film is almost entirely set in a labyrinth of locked, dark spaces. The sounds of heavy doors opening and closing create a kind of minimalist music score, while the movements of bodies from one cell to another morph into an orchestrated choreography. This kafkaesque world of endless trial and punishment no longer requires a connection to reality, while notions of evidence, morals and the presumption of innocence are similarly renounced. TWO PROSECUTORS renders all this as a collapsing, failed system that can no longer be relied on. (Evgeny Gusyatinskiy)

In the presence of Gunnar Dedio (Producer) on October 20 and in the presence of Sergei Loznitsa on October 22.

Sergei Loznitsa: IN THE FOG (2012), THE LETTER (2012), MAIDAN (2014), AUSTERLITZ (2016), A GENTLE CREATURE (2017), DONBASS (2018), VICTORY DAY (2018), STATE FUNERAL (2019), BABI YAR. CONTEXT (2021), MR. LANDSBERGIS (2021), THE NATURAL HISTORY OF DESTRUCTION (2022), THE KIEV TRIAL (2022), THE INVASION (2024)