Document The Moscow Trials

The Moscow Trials
Dir. Milo Rau, Germany 2013, 86m, UK Premiere

In 2012, images from the trials of members of Pussy Riot caused indignation around the globe. In Russia itself, though, the event was merely viewed as an almost commonplace expression of the oppression exerted by Putin’s Russia on “dissident” art. The Moscow Trials recaps the history of this dispute between artists and orthodox believers– in the form of political theatre.

In March 2013, Milo Rau, the Swiss founder of the International Institute of Political Murder, transforms a stage at the Moscow Sakharov Center into a courtroom for a three-day show trial. Rau assembles real-life actors (artists, politicians, church leaders, citizens and lawyers) in this fictional court to hold a “trial-show” in which the missions and limits of critical art are debated, as art confronts religion, “dissident” Russia confronts the “real” Russia.

The 3-day-trial, stormed by the Russian authorities and by units of Cossacks, led to an international scandal and a travel ban against the director. The film documents the project and illuminates the historical and political backgrounds to it.