Moving film portrait of the last couple in the forbidden zone around Tsjernobyl.

The Antwerp company Berlin (winner Cultuurprijs Podiumkunsten 2015) has never undertaken such an epic journey as in their most recent creation Zvizdal. For this, core members Yves Degryse and Bart Baele together with the French journalist Cathy Blisson travelled to the Ukrainian village of the same name situated within the 'forbidden zone' around the former nuclear site of Tsjernobyl, where the nuclear disaster occurred 30 years ago. In Zvizdal they met the old couple Pétro and Nadia, who refused to be evacuated to a house offered to them by the government and were the only ones who went on living in this radiation area all this time, completely cut off from the outside world.

For earlier documentary theatre projects Berlin already travelled to the Inuit in Canada, to the small American village of Bonanza, to powder keg Jerusalem with its Palestinian-Israeli tensions and to Moscow where the regime oppresses everybody with a divergent opinion. This time they opted for the small phantom village Zvizdal has become. For four years Berlin travelled to Zvizdal twice a year to spend time with Pétro and Nadia, to interview them before the camera and to follow their lives and choices. How does one support isolation for years on end ? How to get older when you only have each other ? And what if one of them were to die ? The improbable story of Pétro and Nadia is put on stage through a terrifically interesting documentary projected on a screen between the two bleachers. Under this screen there are three scale-models that represent the rural estate of Pétro and Nadia through the different seasons. A suspension camera shows close-ups of their premises, which completely sucks you into this moving story.

Audience and press were wildly enthusiastic about this multimedia gem. “Zvizdal is a poignant flawless film portrait of two old people and the things that pass”, wrote De Standaard. “Berlin has never been so empathic and focused on one story line”according to Cutting Edge.

Not to be missed !

NAVETTES / BUSRITTEN / BUSES:
*Kortrijk: 20.11 - 19:30

PARCOURS: 
*20.11 - Jan Martens + Berlin