96 minutes / Color
Russian / English subtitles
Release: 2024
Copyright: 2023
Deep inside the Russian forests, against the wishes of the authorities, 60-year-old Yuri Dmitriev searches for mass graves from the era of Stalin’s terror that claimed the lives of almost 700,000 Soviet citizens -- until one day he is arrested under suspicious circumstances.
Proof of the massacres was to remain hidden in state service archives, and it is only thanks to Yuri Dmitriev’s work that thousands learned where their loved ones were buried. Having himself been left at a maternity clinic as a baby, he sees himself is a man on a mission: ‘Every human being has the right to know where they came from and where their family lies buried.’
While abroad there is increasing recognition for this “archaeologist of terror”, in Russia Dmitriev is discredited as someone collaborating with the West. THE DMITRIEV AFFAIR is a prescient examination of the growing despotism of the Russian legal system and the methods used to silence those who challenge official state narratives.
Yuri Dmitriev has received several awards for his work, including the Sakharov Freedom Award and the Polish Gold Cross of Merit. Dmitriev was head of the Karelian branch of the now dissolved human rights organization Memorial, who were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022.
“[Four stars!] Staggering portrait of a Russian historian and activist Yuri Dmitriev.” —Trouw (Dutch newspaper)
“Earnest, impressive documentary... shows how Putin's repression grows.” —de Volkskrant (Dutch newspaper)
“Gorter's meticulous study of the trials of human rights activist and historian Yuri Dmitriev is obligatory viewing.” —Modern Times Review
“The Dmitriev Affair: shocking, moving and impressive. A monument to the honest loner in Putin's chaotic dictatorship where indictment, suspicion, abuse of power and terror call the shots.” —Laura Starink, Window to Russia
“I understand if - with all that is coming at us from Ukraine - you don't feel like going to see a documentary about an imprisoned Russian. But do it anyway! This is a fantastic film that very well exposes the mechanism as a result of which the Ukraine war could also happen.” —Derk Sauer, Het Parool
Select Accolades
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Why do so many Russians still defend Stalin as a great leader and a hero? Russians speak openly about Joseph Stalin and their traumas, rooted in a violent history.
Jessica Gorter | 2018 | 90 minutes | Color | Russian | English subtitles
