Digital Video magazine — February 2013
Punk Rock Protest: Tracing the Trials of Russian Band Pussy Riot

A documentary on the imprisoned members of Russian punk rock group Pussy Riot had its world premiere in January at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in the World Cinema Documentary Competition. Pussy Riot — A Punk Prayer, co-directed by Mike Lerner (Hell and Back Again, The Afghans) and Maxim Pozdorovkin (Capital), chronicles the arrest and trial of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina and Yekaterina Samutsevich (Nadia, Masha and Katia).

The three women attracted worldwide attention last year when they were arrested and charged with hooliganism following the staging of a “punk prayer” protest against Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow’s main cathedral. Amid a storm of media attention, the ensuing trial was criticized as a show staged to discourage other dissenters, with artists such as Madonna, Paul McCartney and Sting voicing their support for the group. The women were sentenced to two years in prison in October, though Samutsevich was later freed on appeal.

Russian-born Pozdorovkin, who grew up in Moscow and New York, and was living in Moscow during the trial, found himself drawn to the women and how their story was being portrayed. “The story hasn’t been properly represented in the media, on both the Russian and western sides,” he says. “It isn’t about dissent; it’s about this huge generational divide and the conflict that creates. This is about a younger generation making itself heard by any means necessary.”

A punk pastiche, the film incorporates footage from Russian news agencies along with material captured with mobile phones and handheld cameras as well as stabilized DSLR rigs. “There’s footage from places where cameras weren’t allowed, using iPhones or whatever,” says Pozdorovkin, who in addition to attending Harvard grew up playing in bands and producing his own fanzines.” It’s a true punk rock media collage, which is appropriate to the film and to the subject matter as well.” (Read more…)