Opens Theatrically at Film Forum Friday, May 7
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Written & Directed by Sergei Loznitsa

Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin (1878–1953) was a close competitor with Hitler and Mao for the 20th century’s greatest murderer. This masterful compilation of beautifully restored archival footage captures vast hordes of mourners across the USSR following his death, culminating in the queasily lavish multiday funeral proceedings. Originally shot by the Soviets themselves (in both black and white and glorious color), it gives insight into the cult of personality that Stalin perpetuated throughout his 26-year reign. Seen on screen (but without identification) are the Communist Party brass (Beria, Malenkov, Molotov, Khrushchev), who, some historians suspect, poisoned Stalin just as he was about to launch a new anti-Semitic campaign.

J. Hoberman, writing in Artforum calls the film “a mesmerizing, two-hour assemblage fashioned from archival material intended for THE GREAT FAREWELL, a never-released feature documenting the March 1953 funeral of Soviet maximum leader Joseph Stalin…Both awesome and stupefying, conjuring the spectacle of a dead pharaoh laid to rest in a celluloid pyramid of his own design.”

Presented with support from the Ostrovsky Family Fund.

2019 135 MINS. THE NETHERLANDS / LITHUANIA IN RUSSIAN WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES

A MUBI RELEASE

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