Synopsis
Maryna, Pavel and Denis belong to an underground theatre group in Minsk, Belarus. In the course of the 2020 presidential elections, they take part in the peaceful mass protests, together with thousands of people. They narrowly escape arrest and torture. What unites them is the hope for freedom of speech and democracy.
Director's Biography
Aliaksei Paluyan was born in 1989 in Belarus. In 2012, he moved to Germany and studied film and television directing at the Kunsthochschule Kassel (Kassel College of Art). He has become known to audiences as a director of fiction short films and documentaries that have been presented at festivals worldwide. With his unique artistic signature, Aliaksei Paluyan has managed to transform highly personal stories from his homeland into themes of universal meaning and relevance. In 2019, his short fiction drama “Lake of Happiness”, a german-belarusian-spainish co-production, which premiered in Clermont-Ferrand and won numerous awards at international festivals, was a candidate for European Short Film at the 33rd European Film Awards in 2020 and also longlisted for the Oscars 2021. “Courage” is his documentary film debut.