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Confession
A film by Marina Petrovskaia
US, 2001, 19 minutes, BW, VHS, English/Russian, Subtitled
Order No. W03790

"I want to make a confession. I used my camera as a weapon to manipulate a now defenseless person and she has been haunting me ever since," declares filmmaker Marina Petrovskaia in her pioneering documentary, CONFESSION, Petrovskaia journeys to Germany with the explicit purpose of confronting her ailing aunt and coaxing her into disclosing an unsavory episode in their family’s history. Shot in black and white, with generous use of archival images and artfully placed text, Petrovskaia challenges conventional documentary techniques by purposely manipulating interviews and incorporating experimental devices to disjoint the disturbing narrative reluctantly offered by her aunt. While chronicling her confessional, the filmmaker calls into question her own moral authority over her investigation and, ultimately, presents a probing critique on the ethics of non-fiction filmmaking.



AWARDS, FESTIVALS, & SCREENINGS

  • Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema / Next Frame – Best Editing
  • New York Exposition of Short Film and Video – Jury Award
  • Double Take Documentary Film Festival
  • Northwest Documentary Film Festival
  • Museum of Modern Art, New York

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QUOTES

    “The most awesome interviews in documentary do not only reveal information; they expose the soul…Petrovskaia raises issues of guilt and retribution as well as documentary ethics in this fascinating, raw encounter.”
    Bill Nichols
    Cinema Studies, San Francisco State University

    “The complexity and ambivalence with which individuals experienced 20th century European history emerges from the interplay of Petrovskaia’s accusatory questions and her aunt’s defensive answers…”
    Barbara Mennel
    German & Cinema Studies, UC Berkeley

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