40th Festival Internacional de Cine de Huesca
June 9 - 16, 2012, Huesca, Spain
The savvy formal approach and the intensity of personal view on a milestone nuclear energy accident in Chernobyl turn Leonid’s Story into yet another steady award-winner among East Silver Caravan titles. After sweeping prizes in Australia, South Korea, Ukraine and, recently, in Macedonia, the documentary secured this year’s Danzante Award at the International Film Festival Huesca for Rainer Ludwigs who could not be present, but took the honors through a video call.
While the Ukrainian-German co-production reached for category’s the first prize, another East European short documentary – 3 Days of Freedom by the Polish director Lukasz Borowski - was highlighted as Jury’s special mention.
Leonid's Story
Istoriya Leonida , Germany, Ukraine, 2011, 19 min, DVD, Animated, Environmental, History, Human Rights
A Soviet family searching for a modest paradise is swept into an immense disaster. Chernobyl 1986. Leonid grew up in the village next to the reactor. The film comprehends the development of this world disaster through the destiny of the protagonist and his family. The small episodes reconstruct the emotional dimension of the tragedy: The children who run to the burning reactor, getting a look at the spectacular drama, the unsuspecting village people in the surrounded area, the animals which remain behind after the evacuation, and the helpless tries of mankind to eliminate the impact of the nuclear disaster, accompanied by the faceless Soviet system. In the end there is a happy ending: The triumph of life over the disaster.
