The Dmitriev Affair (Jessica Gorter)
Biography
•
1h 35m
Directed by Jessica Gorter • Documentary • 2024 • 96 minutes
Yuri Dmitriev exhumes what the Russian rulers would rather forget. After years of searching the pine forests of Karelia in northwestern Russia, he discovers a mass grave containing thousands of people who were secretly executed during Stalin’s “Great Terror” of 1937.
It is not the Russian government but Yuri Dmitriev who tracks down their identities in the archives and organizes commemorations for their next of kin. Thanks to his efforts, they finally find out what happened to their lost relatives. Having himself been left at a maternity clinic as a baby, he 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. Then he is arrested, on basis of a fabricated charge. Tragically accurate Dmitriev predicts his own future and that of his country.
Up Next in Biography
-
Martin Margiela: In His Own Words
Directed by Reiner Holzemer • Documentary • With Martin Margiela, Carla Sozzani • 2019 • 95 minutes
One of the most revolutionary and influential fashion designers of his time, Martin Margiela has remained an elusive figure the entirety of his decades-long career. From Jean Paul Gaultier's assis...
-
The Art of Cooking with Fire
Directed by Iñaki Arteta • Documentary • With Bittor Arginzoniz • 2019 • 84 minutes
Self-taught Bittor Arginzoniz has achieved world fame as a grill genius with his restaurant Asador Etxebarri, ranked as third best restaurant in the world world in 2019. His personality and the place where he liv...
-
Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child
Directed by Tamra Davis • Documentary • With Jean-Michel Basquiat • 2010 • 88 minutes
Centered on a rare interview that director and friend Tamra Davis shot with Jean-Michel Basquiat more than 20 years ago, this film chronicles the meteoric rise and fall of the young artist. In the crime-ridden ...
