In the Fog

In 1942, Belarus is in the hands of Nazis and the local militia. Sushenya is taken from his house in the middle of the night by Burov and his sidekick Voitik, two partisan fighters hiding out in the hills and forest. Sushenya is the only one of four captured rail workers who has been allowed to live by the occupying Germans after seemingly sabotaging the rail tracks. With the village and even his wife turned against him as a collaborator, Sushenya accepts what must happen next until the Germans suddenly appear and he is - perhaps - given a second chance, leaving space for doubt both on his betrayal and on the legitimacy of punishment by death. The three – and later two – men walk in the wood, exhausted, fleeing death from the Nazis while discussing and living the moral dilemmas of treason, heroism, guilt and revenge.

Shot in somptuous long takes and vibrant colour, In the Fog ultimately questions the corruption of man’s very humanity in the context of war.

Official Selection, Cannes Film Festival

FIPRESCI Award, Cannes 2012

Golden Apricot, Yerevan Film Festival

Best Film, Odessa International Film Festival

Grand Prix, Andrei Tarkovsky International Film Festival

Born in 1964 in Belarus, Sergei Loznitsa grew up in Kiev where he studied applied mathematics and later worked as a researcher on artificial intelligence.

He then decided to study directing at the Moscow Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), graduating in 1997. He has been making award-winning documentaries since 1996, and in 2010 he completed his first feature film My Joy, premiered in the main competition of the Cannes Film Festival, to great critical acclaim. In The Fog is his second feature film. It received its international premiere at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival and was widely praised by the critics and public alike.

Filmography

Feature-Length Fiction Films

2012 In the Fog

2010 My Joy

Feature-Length Documentaries

2008 Revue

2008 Northern Light

2005 Blockade

2003 Landscape

2001 Settlement

Documentary Shorts

2012 O Milagre de Santo Antonio

2006 Artel

2004 Factory

2002 Portrait

2000 The Train Stop

1998 Life, Autumn

1996 Today We Are Going to Build a House

See links to the films at: www.loznitsa.com/en/films.html

would have made just as worthy a Palme d'Or as Michael Haneke's Amour in Cannes last year.

It powerfully conveys a sense of war as a constant force determining the turns of misfortune for innocent and compromised alike. In war, it suggests, you can never go home again…

This is a film of real depth and substance, its anecdotal perfection echoing not only the Russian war stories of Isaac Babel, but also such masters as Maupassant and Graham Greene…. a compelling, nerve-racking narrative – and one of the year's unmissables.

Jonathan Romney  THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

The best thing I have seen so far this year…. This is a masterpiece of serious cinema; long, slow and grave as the grave. You won’t believe me but I came out beaming.

Robbie Collin THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

FILM OF THE WEEK

“Sergei Loznitsa’s stark parable about Soviet collaboration with the Nazis has echoes of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky…One of the best Russian films to open in Britain over the past decade.”

Philip French  THE OBSERVER

★★★★

Sergei Loznitsa's chilling drama explores the agonies of war and puts European history on trial.

“This is chilling and mysterious historical parable from film-maker Sergei Loznitsa… In The Fog is a haunting depiction of the hidden tragedies of war.”

Peter Bradshaw  THE GUARDIAN

★★★★“The complex line between guilt and innocence, the joy of existence and the sweet relief of death are earnestly explored in IN THE FOG…a film as challenging as it is rewarding.”

FILM OF THE MONTH

"Lets us grasp the poisoned reality of life under occupation...A solemn moral epic...

"In its thorough meditation on man's moral place, and its beautiful depiction of one version of life's trail, lies this film's joy." Hannah McGill, SIGHT & SOUND

★★★★“This extraordinary film”

Derek Malcolm THE EVENING STANDARD

Mark Adams THE SUNDAY MIRROR

PICK OF THE WEEK

“Powerful, slow-burning parable…a meaty moral conundrum.

This substantial, atmospheric wartime thriller”

GUARDIAN GUIDE

"A historical drama...that concerns characters with complex moral dilemas and explores the indistinct line between fate and free will." Anna Formicheva, SIGHT & SOUND in interview with director Sergei Loznitsa

'Shot by Oleg Mutu with an exquisite eye for atmosphere…there’s a strong feeling of authenticity to this defined world that’s rare in World War II film.

'Magnificently evocative…I loved every one of its 73 shots.'

Nick James, SIGHT & SOUND

'A delicately complex work of shifting perspectives....'Among the handful of truly eloquent and moving films here'

“Loznitsa’s war film is a superbly constructed anecdote, at once simple and troublingly complex. One of the films I most want to see again in 2013.”

Jonathan Romney, SIGHT & SOUND (Cannes Film Festival 2012 blog)

“IN THE FOG paints in simple terms a complex picture of survival, compromise, betrayal and integrity. The film is impeccably acted and its clarity and economy are positively Tolstoyan”.

“A Russian drama about truth, honour and betrayal, and one of the very best war movies of recent years.”

Jonathan Romney,THE INDEPENDENT / THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY

More links and round-ups at Fandor.com

‘In the Fog is a splendour, struck by beauty and intelligence.’
Jacques Mandelbaum, LE MONDE

For film bookings please contact Colin Burch at Verve Pictures — [email protected]. Press resources are on the Press page.