The Old Jewish Cemetery
The first Jewish cemetery in Riga was opened in 1725 and burials continued there until the late 1930’s. After German forces occupied Riga in 1941, the cemetery became a mass burial site for over 1.000 Jews killed in the streets and houses of Riga Ghetto. Following WWII many of the cemetery’s tombstones were removed and used as building material. In the 1960’s the site was razed and renamed “The Park of the Communist Brigades”. In 1992, the park was renamed “The Old Jewish Cemetery”. Nowadays, the park, located in one of the poorest districts of the city, nicknamed Maskachka (Maskava is the Latvian name for Moscow), is a popular spot for idle drunkards, local kids, and American tourists.
Director's Biography
Sergei Loznitsa was born 1964 in Belarus and grew up in the Ukraine. Graduated from the Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow in 1997. He has been making documentary films since 1996 and has received numerous national and international awards. In 2010 Loznitsa’s feature debut MY JOY premiered in the main competition at the Festival de Cannes followed by IN THE FOG in 2012 and MAIDAN in 2014. SEGODNYA MY POSTROIM DOM (Today We Are Going To Build A House, co-directed by Marat Magambetov, 1996, short doc), ZHIZN, OSEN (Life, Autumn, co-directed by Marat Magambetov, 1998, short doc), POLUSTANOK (The Train Stop, 2000, short doc), POSELENIJE (The Settlement, 2001, doc), PORTRET (Portrait, 2002, short doc), PEYZAZH (Landscape, 2003, doc), FABRIKA (Factory, 2004, short doc), BLOKADA (Blockade, 2005, doc), ARTEL (2006, short doc), SEVERNY SVET (Northern Light, 2008, doc), PREDSTAVLENYE (Revue, 2009, doc), SCHASTYE MOE (My Joy, 2010), V TUMANE (In The Fog, 2012; CE '13), O MILAGRE DE SANTO ANTÓNIO (The Miracle of Saint Anthony, 2012, short doc), PISMO (The Letter, 2012, short doc), REFLECTIONS. DIRECTOR'S CUT (2014, short doc), MAIDAN (2014, doc), THE OLD JEWISH CEMETERY (2014, short doc)
Tribute 2015
Sergei Loznitsa
Latvia / Netherlands 2014
black and white
20 minutes
without dialogue
Cinematography Serhiy Stefan Stetsenko
Sound/Sounddesign Vladimir Golovnitzkiy
Producer(s) Sergei Loznitsa, Maria Choustova-Baker (Atoms & Void)
Production
Atoms & Void Brugsestraat 20 2587 XS Den Haag The Netherlands T +31 70 350 92 92 atomypustota.info@gmail.com