Edition 24: 1–9 August, 2025

FACT OR FAKE: Truth On Film

The Trial

Process

Netherlands
2018 — 7' / Black & White

1

Synopsis

Moscow, USSR. 1930. The Pillar Hall of the State House of the Unions. A group of top rank economists and engineers is put on trial accused of plotting a coup d'etat against the Soviet government.
It's alleged that they made a secret pact with the French Prime Minister, Raymond Poincare, and with other Western political leaders, aiming to destroy the Soviet power, restore capitalism and break up the USSR. All charges are fabricated and the accused are forced to confess to the crimes they never committed. The court, presided by Andrey Vyshinsky, who later became known as the diabolical prosecutor, key-figure in Stalinist show trials and the advocate of mass repressions, delivers death verdicts.

Official Trailer

Director Biography

Sergei Loznitsa - director/script writer/ producer, was born on 5 September 1964 in Baranovici (USSR). He grew up in Kiev, and in 1987 graduated from the Kiev Polytechnic with a degree in Applied Mathematics.

Director

Sergei Loznitsa

Producer

Maria Choustova

Sergei Loznitsa

Cinematographer

Archive footage

Editor

Danielius Kokanauskis

Sergei Loznitsa

Sound

Vladimir Golovnitski