A major document of postwar Russian culture, Sokurov and Aranovich's collaborative film about Dimitri Shostakovich, one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century, is legendary because (and in spite) of its scarcity. Immediately banned upon completion, the film had a life of official "nonexistence" for six years, until it was finally released during perestroika. Furthering the legend, Aranovich's untimely death meant that Sokurov would have to move away from his original task as the editor of the archival footage to complete the directorial duties on his own. This experimental documentary beautifully portrays the heroic Shostakovich, who had suffered what Lilia Avrutin calls "the ritual of civil execution through repeated public censure and denigration" under Stalin. The videowork explores the meaning of artistic silence, and charts the struggle between Shostakovich and Stalin's regime, employing newsreel footage and rare footage of the composer and his family to place his biography in a historical context. (The famous recording of Shostakovich's telephone call to violinist David Oistrakh is used to poignant effect.)