Masterclass with Oleg Sentsov

Known worldwide for his Gaamer, awarded at the Rotterdam International Film Festival in 2012, Oleg Sentsov became a symbol of resistance in the face of Russian repression during the annexation of Crimea in 2014. Arrested and found guilty of fomenting "terrorist attacks'' by the Russian justice system after a farce of a trial, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison and deported to a Siberian prison. In 2018, he began a hunger strike to demand the release of all Ukrainian political prisoners held in Russia, and started remotely shooting his second feature film, Numbers, presented at the Berlinale. After an intense international campaign of support, he was finally released in September 2019, one year after receiving the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought.

Ten characters, each wearing a number and not knowing each other’s names nor where they come from, practice daily rituals, subject to rules as strict as they are useless under the eye of armed guards and an omnipotent chief. Welcome to a dystopian, ferocious and absurd world led by Ukrainian dissident Oleg Sentsov from the Russian prison in which he was held from 2014 to 2019! An unclassifiable, raw, and deeply haunted film.

Available online and on demand between the 5 and 14 March 2021