Kvedaravichyus: film about kidnappings in Chechnya was made by hidden camera

The Lithuanian film director Mantas Kvedaravichyus, author of the documentary "Barzakh" telling about disappearances and abductions in Chechnya, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent about how his film was made.

The film "Barzakh" (the barzakh, according to Islamic tradition, is the place where souls of the dead are awaiting the Judgement Day) opened the documentary programme of the Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale).

"The characters are the people, who suffered from torture, those whose relatives had been kidnapped. We show both recent kidnappings and those committed 5-7 years ago. I wanted to show those who had been waiting for their beloved ones for so many years, and those whose relatives had disappeared quite recently," said the Lithuanian film director Mantas Kvedaravichyus.

According to his story, the film was based on a scientific work on the topic of torture and state power.

"I lived in Chechnya from 2007 to 2009, but began to come to the republic since 2006. Local authorities did not know what I was doing. They were holding CTOs (counterterrorist operations)… There was no reason even to raise the issue about a permit to film anything. I had to do everything carefully. We never ran openly with the camera. In fact, it was a hidden camera. Much of the film consists of documentary frames, but there are also non-documentary ones," said Mantas Kvedaravichyus.

According to his story, despite the fact that the film is heavy enough, the people who saw it thanked the director for his work.

The film is dedicated to the memory of the assassinated employee of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" Natalia Estemirova. According to Gisaev, for the time being the film will take part in film festivals; and only later it will be disseminated in free access. However, the human rights activist doubts as to its appearance in Russia. "It's a complex issue; I don't think that now it's possible," he said.

Akhmed Gisaev, a human rights defender, co-author of the film and an employee of the HRC "Memorial", said that the film "Barzakh" was selected from "thousands offered for the opening ceremony of the festival - and it means quite a lot."