ISKUSHENIE / TEMPTATION

Artist versus man of state – the antagonism is as old as the ages. Except now we’re in Belarus, where many things are different, including the history of official policies relating to images. The head of state is Alexander Lukashenko, the artist is Viktar Dashuk, one of the two great Belorussian political documentary filmmakers (the repressive climate has forced the other one, Yuri Khashchevatski, into working from Poland). The opponents are two vain, proud men with overlapping biographies who stand in each other’s way. Ever since Lukashenko came to power (receiving invariably 90% of the votes at every subsequent election), Dashuk, who was once a cosmopolite (especially of the communist-minded world) has been deprived of access to production facilities and institutions and obliged to rely on the film images of his own making. Banished into exile inside Europe’s most despotic state, he has built himself a house, a sanctuary in which he is attempting to give his life purpose and meaning after overcoming an illness. The route he follows is to scrutinize himself and his family (and he makes no attempt to hide the fact that they are at the mercy of his paternalistic and authoritarian moods), as well as a review of his (cinematic) works within an unjust political system. A film about immortality: about those things which will survive.

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VIKTAR DASHUK
Born in Polesye, Belarus.
Graduated in journalism from Belarusian State University in Minsk, studied screenwriting and directing at VGIK Moscow with Andrei Tarkovsky as supervisor. A director, cameraman, scriptwriter, journalist and photographer, he also worked at Belarusfilm studio. He has made some hundred documentaries and two fiction films, winning prizes at international festivals. From 1989 to 1994 he taught documentary at the Belarusian Academy of the Arts.

FILMOGRAPHY (SELECTION)
1974-79 / JA IZ OGNENNOY DEREVNI / I’M FROM THE BURNED VILLAGE (doc, serial)
1980-84 / U VOYNY NE ZHENSKOYE LITSO / THE WAR DOESN’T HAVE A WOMAN’S FACE (doc, serial)
1986 / DVOYE NA OSTROVE SLYOS / TWO ON THE ISLAND OF TEARS
1987-1992 / VITEBSKOYE DELO / VTEBSK CASE (doc)
1995 / SLADKIY YAD LYUBVI / SWEET POISON OF LOVE
1997-2010 DEKAMERON PO-BIEŁORUSSKIJ / BELARUSIAN DECAMERON (doc)