Film about refugees from the mountain Chechnya shown in Sakharov Centre

On August 10, a festival of Caucasian films opened at A. Sakharov Public Centre. Eight films made by young Caucasian film directors, already presented at international film festivals and recognized by leading humanitarian organizations, were applied for demonstration during two weeks. Besides, in parallel with the film festival, an exhibition of Caucasian photos made by Yulia Vishnevetskaya, a correspondent of the "Russian Reporter," was organized.

The festival was opened by the documentary "People's History at War and Peace" by Armenian film director Vardan Oganesyan. The film is based on the Karabakh war scenes and became a special prize winner at the "Tribeca Film Festival" (New York, 2006).

"Throughout the whole war, I tried to find an answer to the most important question - how to remain a human being during the time of troubles. It turned out that finding an answer at peace is much more difficult than at fight. And I decided to meet those who had lived through everything and survived," the author said.

On August 17, the organizers of the event showed the film "The Crying Sun" by Zarema Mukusheva about the life of refugees from mountain villages of Chechnya. Working together with the "Witness" American Company, the employees of the Human Rights Centre (HRC) "Memorial" headed by Zarema Mukusheva (operator and film director) have created a documentary evidence of desolation of the mountain Chechnya as a result of deliberate "squeezing" of the population down into the valley by federal forces.

According to the "Memorial," in 1992, the Zumsoy village, the history of which the film is narrating, was inhabited by about 50 families, that is 420 persons. In 2005, when human rights activists visited the mountain Chechnya, only six families remained there. Now, the village is desolated. The Zumsoy village is not alone: after the last war, the mountain area of the Republic has become empty: bombardments are still frequent there. The absence of safety is the major factor of a constant people outflow from the mountain Chechnya. In their turn, military commanders deny the facts of shelling the villages.

"The mass exodus of residents from mountain villages of Chechnya is a deeply tragic phenomenon. Loss of mountains as a national symbol is negatively telling on the identity of the whole nation. Besides, people have difficulties in integrating into the valley, since internally displaced persons are not covered by any statutory act of the Russian Federation," Shamil Tabgiev, head of the representative office of the HRC "Memorial" in Grozny, said at the conference on March 13 in Moscow.

The film by Zarema Mukusheva is, first of all, about loss of one's roots and traditions, and about remoteness from native tombs.