Oksana Mysina
Oksana Mysina on her film, Voices of the New Belarus, for the Analogio International Festival, Athens, Greece, September 2022.
Voices of the New Belarus is a film about torture and murder in the prisons of Belarus.
The 2020 revolution in Minsk and other cities bogged down in blood and violence unleashed by President Alyaksandr Lukashenka on his own people. It was a true war, and in a very short time, barely more than a year, it was revealed to be a precursor or enabler of Vladimir Putin's 2022 war against Ukraine, which, in itself, was an attack on the security of Europe and the entire world. The film's documentary footage reveals the true picture of what happens behind the scenes in a country lead by a bloody dictator.
The texts spoken in the film are drawn verbatim from real documents recording actual words spoken by the 14 characters. These are either imprisoned leaders of the Belarus opposition, or passersby who happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. All of them ended up in the infamous Akrestsina prison, which can be compared in ways to Hitler's prison camps. One character, a leader of the protest movement, was murdered during his incarceration.
The screenplay was written by Andrei Kureichik, one of the most prominent writers in Belarus, who presently is in forced exile due to legal threats against him originating in both Belarus and Russia. The film was directed by Oksana Mysina, a Russian actor and director now residing in Greece. The performers include prominent Russian and Belarusian actors and political activists, including Ilya Yashin, a colleague of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Since filming his role, Yashin was arrested and sent to prison for his opposition to Putin's invasion of Ukraine. The film's music was composed by Sergei Kuchmenko.
The violent repressions that we now witness in Lukashenka's Belarus and Putin's Russia are a sign of the fascism that can hide behind polished facades.
The entire film crew thanks the Analogio Festival in Athens for inviting us to participate. We insist on telling the truth. We say no to war.