Кадр з фільма Not made for politics.
The feature-length documentary debut of Belarusian director and director of the “Northern Lights” festival Volia Chajkouskaya, “Not Made For Politics,” is now available to viewers on HBO Max. This was announced on social media by Franak Viačorka, an adviser to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who is one of the film’s protagonists.
The film, which took the team five years to make, marks a first: it is the first Estonian documentary co-production project for HBO and the first film on the platform directed by a Belarusian woman.
The film premiered almost a year ago at the prestigious Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF), after which its creators screened it at numerous international film festivals.
The film tells the story of the events of 2020 in Belarus, when, following the arrests of the main presidential candidates, women took the lead in the pro-democracy movement. The camera follows the lives of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Nadzeya Zeliankova and Masha — each of whom in her own way became a face of resistance to the regime of Aliaksandr Lukashenka.
However, “Not Made For Politics” is not simply a chronicle of the revolution. The film also has a personal storyline centered on director Volia Chajkouskaya herself. Observing events from Tallinn and filming protests and solidarity initiatives from afar, the director moves from an outside observer to an active participant in the course of history.
“It is a story about overcoming fear, forced emigration and how the struggle for freedom changes a person’s identity,” the film’s release says.
The project was produced as a co-production between Estonia, France and the United States (Allfilm, YUZU Productions and Sorrento Productions), together with HBO Europe Documentaries, ARTE and a number of European television channels.