Preceded by short: Sonata for Hitler

(I nichego bolshe). One of Sokurov's best documentaries, And Nothing More offers a very personal and idiosyncratic version of World War II which, in its dependence on musical montage and manipulation of newsreels and other documents, is somewhat reminiscent of Chris Marker. Focusing on the allied heads of state (Stalin, Churchill, Roosevelt) and the machinery of war they unleashed, Sokurov cuts together war newsreels, enlarging certain elements in the imagery, repeating over and over some small detail in a scene. The result is both a celebration of those who fought against Nazism and a meditation on the nature of authority. Commissioned for the celebration of the fortieth anniversary of the Soviet victory over the Nazis, And Nothing More was shelved by the authorities and could not be shown until the period of perestroika.

(70 mins, In Russian with English subtitles, Color, Video, From Ideale Audience)

Sonata for Hitler (Sonata diya Gitlera) (Alexander Sokurov, USSR, 1979). Banned for ten years, the provocatively named Sonata for Hitler constructs a lyrical montage of archival footage of the end of the war in Germany and Russia: Nazi generals and their victims, landscapes of catastrophe, Soviet victory won at a calamitous cost. The images are numbered with the dates of Hitler's and Stalin's deaths to forge an analogy between the two dictators who inflicted destruction on the bodies and souls of the Russian nation. (11 mins, In Russian with English subtitles, Color, Video, From Ideale Audience)