Studio Navigator. Film by Andrei Kudinenko 90 min., fiction, color, DV, english subtitles, Belarus, 2003 A military drama about people who made mistakes which could not be repaired, like Adam, who was forced to become a partisan, but wanted household happiness instead, like a dumb woman, who tried to mother a wounded Nazi, like a boy, who wanted to find his father and scathed his mother. Second World War trilogy from Belorus. The population suffers both from German soldiers and from bandits instructed by Moscow. An expressive drama shot with a limited means and great flair. Since Elim Klimov, who died in 2003, stopped directing films after his stunning Come and See (1986), few unusual films have emerged from Belarus. Mysterium Occupation is a positive sign of independent cinematographic life from this part of the world. Mysterium Occupation is made up of three novellas that are interwoven and blend in tone and mood. During the Second World War, the Belarus rural population had a difficult time under the terror and occupation of the Nazis, but also under the partisans instructed by Moscow, largely comprising unruly bandits. In the end, the Belarussians primarily made life difficult for each other. Mysterium Occupation interweaves three dramatic stories: there are the vicissitudes of a deaf and dumb woman who, after losing her little boy, expresses her maternal feelings on a wounded Nazi soldier; a boy who thinks his long lost father was the murderer of his mother and stepfather; and of a young recruit who is forced by an older partisan (obviously with a criminal past) to rob, rape and take out his revenge on a partisan deserter. Andrei Kudinenko and his enthusiastic crew provided a gripping picture of the drama. The lack of facilities is compensated by an expressive, moving camera and the modern soundtrack. screenplay Aleksander Katchan director Andrei Kudinenko camera Pavel Zubritsky music Andrei Volkov art director Anton Gvozdikov producers Aleksander Debalyuk, Andrei Kudinenko, Sergey Artimovitch cast: Aleksander Kolbyshev, Anatoly Kot, Aleksander Molchanov, Svetlana Zelenkovskaya, Lyubov Rumyantseva, Igor Denisov, Elena Sidorova, Andrei Kureichik, Anna Pinkevich Studio NAVIGATOR Producer: Aleksander Debalyuk Uralskaya st. 3-10 Minsk 220037 Belarus tel./fax (375 17) 299 07 89 mobile tel. (375 29) 666 48 98 E-mail: navigatorstudio@mail.ru Director: Andrei Kudinenko tel. (375 17) 264 15 51/263 97 57 mobile tel. +375-29-7789751 E-mail: vlk2000@mail.ru< Producer: Sergey Artimovitch tel. +79262393513 tel. +375296472290 E-mail: partisanfilm@narod.ru