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On February 8, at the meeting of the Eurasian Film Club “Documentary Thursday” in the I.S. Turgenev Library-Reading Room, the documentary film “Voices of Olleron” by director and historian Stepan Reshetnikov caused a strong reaction from the audience. Based on the stories and letters of their parents and their own childhood memories, the children of Russian emigrants reconstruct the history of the stay of Soviet prisoners of war on the French island of Oleron (l`ile d`Olleron) during the Second World War. The prisoners organized an uprising, in which emigrants - writers Vladimir Sosinsky and Vadim Andreev (a son of the Russian writer Leonid Andreev) took part.
The writer's son, mathematician and professor at the Independent Moscow University, Alexei Sosinsky, and his cousin, musician and philosopher Yegor Reznikov, lead the viewer in the footsteps of the Resistance on the French island of Olleron, which unfolded from early 1944 to May 1945.
The author of the film “Voices of Olleron” revealed to the world a previously unknown chapter from the history of the Resistance to the Nazi regime and Russian emigration, told for the first time 77 years later.
When asked what prompted the author to create the film, Stepan replied that it was
an important example of the unification of Russian emigrants and Soviet prisoners of war in the resistance. And also - to perpetuate the memory of the victims, to find relatives, to delve deeper into this topic, which has already been achieved.
Yegor Reznikov is Orthodox and has honorary Russian citizenship.
The debut film of historian Stepan Reshetnikov was included in the shortlist of the international competition at the Vladimir Menshov International Film Festival “Won Together,” which is organized by the Eurasian Peoples’ Assembly and the Eurasian Academy of Television and Radio.
It is interesting that after the release of the film, a book about this story was published in France, based on the facts described in the film, which premiered as part of the international documentary film competition of the 18th IFF “Won Together” named after Vladimir Menshov.
The picture was presented by the author - teacher at Moscow State Law Academy and Russian State University for the Humanities, historian Stepan Reshetnikov.
The second film shown was dedicated to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, this day of remembrance is on January 27 around the world. The documentary film “Zonderghetto” was awarded at the Vladimir Menshov “Won Together” International Film Festival.
In September 1941, a passenger train from Hamburg brought about 1,000 Jews to Minsk. The Nazis assured them that they were going to explore new territories. Passengers paid their fares. Next, about 1,000 Jews arrived from Düsseldorf, and about the same number from Vienna. In Minsk they were placed in a special area of the Minsk ghetto - the “sonderghetto”. Only a few survived.
Film producer Vladimir Bokun from Minsk answered questions from viewers via mobile phone.
After watching the films, viewers left comments of the following nature:
“Thank you very much for the film! It is real! A livingly transmitting nerve of island life during a period of social cataclysms on the continent! And the ineradicable, natural Russianness of its main characters!”
The presenter of the film club is the director of the Vladimir Menshov International Film Festival “Won Together” Lina Bogatyr.
The event was held with the support of the Presidential Foundation for Cultural Initiatives.
