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Unwanted Kinship

Pavel Mozhar
30’

Using the streets of his Berlin neighborhood as a backdrop, a filmmaker born in Belarus investigates the systematic nature of Russian and Belarusian war crimes in Ukraine and explores his own responsibility for this war.

Continuing the explorations that began with Handbook (2022), in which he reconstructed the political violence in his native Belarus through eyewitness accounts, Pavel Mohzar turns his conceptual apparatus towards the invasion of Ukraine, channeling his own horror at his homeland’s complicity into a meticulous study of the systematic war crimes committed by the occupying forces. What is striking about Unwanted Kinship is not only its self-reflexive structure but also the suggestive power of these iconic images, which point to a much starker ‘third image’ that the viewers construct based on these miniature sets and the off-screen narration – thus interrogating the oft violent and explicit means of war imagery. (Flavia Dima)

Screening date and location

September 25th, 8:30 PM, Cinema Elvire Popesco

Tickets

Awards & Festivals

Pavel Mozhar

Born in Minsk, Belarus, Pavel Mozhar grew up in and around Berlin from the age of ten. From 2009 to 2012, he studied philosophy and economics at the University of Bayreuth. In 2015, he took up a film directing degree with a focus on documentary at the Film University Babelsberg Konrad Wolf. His short documentary Handbook, about the protests in Belarus in August 2020, won numerous awards, including Best Short Film at the IDFA in 2021.



  • Technical sheet
  • Production and distribution
  • Cast: André Mewis (Army Instructor), Christiane Sill (Civilian 1), Steffen Roll (Civilian 2), Iryna Poplavska (Narrator 1), Oleksandr Kryvosheiev (Narrator 2)
  • Director: Pavel Mozhar
  • Screenplay: Pavel Mozhar, Kolja Volkmar
  • Cinematography: Jonas Römmig, Konrad Waldmann
  • Editing: Florian Seufert
  • Sound Design: Jonas Vicent
  • Sound: Moritz Zuchantke, Thilo Jacks
  • Sound Mixing: Bertold Budig
  • Production Design: Friederike Meisel
  • Costumes: Friederike Meisel
  • Animation: Laura Därr
  • Produced by: Mozhar&Volkmar Film GbR
  • Producers: Kolja Volkmar, Pavel Mozhar

Screens

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Unwanted Kinship

Pavel Mozhar | Duration 30’

Using the streets of his Berlin neighborhood as a backdrop, a filmmaker born in Belarus investigates the systematic nature of Russian and Belarusian war crimes in Ukraine and explores his own responsibility for this war.

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