FULLY BOOKED UK Premiere Screening: 900 Days + Q&A

This screening is followed by a Q&A with director Jessica Gorter, and Anna Reid, author of Leningrad: Tragedy of a City Under Siege 1941-44.

900 Days is a haunting documentary about a tragedy that took place 70 years ago in Russia during the blockade of Leningrad. From September 1941 to January 1944, the German army had Leningrad under siege with nearly three million inhabitants were trapped inside the city. During these 900 days approximately one million lives were lost due to mass famine and subzero temperatures.

Through old letters and diaries, survivors recall what life was like in this period and dismantle the myth created by Stalin. For decades they were not allowed to talk about the siege to prevent the undermining of the ‘the land of victors’ illusion, a myth now being revived by President Putin.

Director Jessica Gorter captures the distance between individual memory and the way history can be exploited by politics. She shows how censorship, propaganda and fear can get a grip on people’s memory.

Directed by: Jessica Gorter
Year: 2011
Running Time: 77′

Awards:
Prize of the Interreligious Jury, Visions du Reel 2012
Special Jury Price, ArtDoc 2011
Best Dutch Documentary, IDFA 2011