The Event

In August 1991 a failed coup détat attempt known as Putsch led by a group of hardcore communists in Moscow ended the 70yearlong rule of the Soviets The USSR collapsed soon after and the tricolour of the sovereign Russian Federation flew over Kremlin As president Gorbachev was detained by the coup leaders staterun TV and radio channels usurped by the putschists broadcast Tchaikovskys Swan Lake instead of news bulletins and crowds of protestors gathered around Moscows White House preparing to defend the stronghold of democratic opposition led by Boris Yeltsin in the city of Leningrad thousands of confused scared excited and desperate people poured into the streets to become a part of the event which was supposed to change their destiny A quarter of a century later Sergei Loznitsa revisits the dramatic moments of August 1991 and casts an eye on the event which was hailed worldwide as the birth of Russian democracy