When Flowers Are Not Silent

Summer 2020. In Belarus, the presidential elections have just been held. Alexander Lukashenka gained over 80% of all votes. The local opposition and the European Union alike called the voting falsified with a large part of the population rejecting the election results. Peaceful mass demonstrations were brutally suppressed, and the intensity of political repressions were raised to the level of the situation before the breakup of the Soviet Union, leading protesters to take to further rallies and freedom marches. An emotional black-and-white documentary captures the mood in a country seen from the perspective of several Belorussian families whose members do not fail to hope in a change even after 27 years of Lukashenka’s dictatorship and a great many traumatic experiences. (Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival)