Belsat documentary filmmaker flees Belarus after searches

Andrei Kudzinien­ka, a direc­tor and doc­u­men­tary film­mak­er for Bel­sat TV, has been forced to leave Belarus under threat of crim­i­nal pros­e­cu­tion. The news was report­ed on Face­book by his friend, art man­ag­er and direc­tor Janusz Gawry­luk.

Andrei Kudzinien­ka. Pho­to: Insta­gram

Accord­ing to Gawry­luk, the Belaru­sian author­i­ties have charged Andrei Kudzinien­ka with “extrem­ism.” Dur­ing search­es of his apart­ment and film school, eight riot police offi­cers and two KGB offi­cers were present. The search­es last­ed 15 hours, and the director’s pass­port and phone were seized. All of Andrei Kudzinienka’s mes­sag­ing apps and social media accounts are now under KGB sur­veil­lance.

“He was told he faces between 8 and 12 years’ impris­on­ment. This is yet anoth­er exam­ple of the regime destroy­ing inde­pen­dent cul­ture and per­se­cut­ing peo­ple in the arts,” Gawry­luk writes.

“The most impor­tant thing today is that Andrei is safe. One wants to believe that very soon he will be able to make films again, rather than fight for his own free­dom,” Janusz Gawry­luk added.

Andrei Kudzinien­ka is a direc­tor and doc­u­men­tary film­mak­er for Bel­sat TV, co-founder of the Bul­bamovie fes­ti­val, and direc­tor of the pri­vate film school KinoKol­laider in Min­sk.

He rose to promi­nence in 2004 with the fea­ture film Mys­teri­um Occu­pa­tion, a work about the events of World War II in Belarus. The film con­sists of three parts and offers a per­spec­tive on the war that departs from the tra­di­tion­al par­ti­san nar­ra­tive. Kudzinien­ka also direct­ed Mas­sacre, which address­es the Upris­ing of 1863, among oth­er works.