Vostrau Belarus

Two images: the enthronement of the Belarus president, Alexandre Loukachenko, and an old peasant contemplating his kingdom, a village full of wooden figurines or “the wood people”, over which he reigns as absolute master. These two images impart the same fantasy of a despotism where men are no more than puppets of the dictator’s will. Allied to Russia through a 1998 treaty, Belarus has the sad reputation of being the “last dictatorship in Europe”. In Minsk, the demonstrations against Loukachenko’s dictatorship are brutally repressed. Vostrau Belarus highlights the source of a conflict between a backward and underdeveloped country population that is blind to its real living conditions and supports the regime, and an urban society eager for change. The conflict not only opposes the urban and rural worlds, but also generations. (Yann Lardeau)