Movie In the documentary "Dom", young Russian opponents of the regime search for a home
SDA
24.1.2025 - 11:00
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The documentary "Dom" focuses on how critics of the Russian regime in Georgia are also met with rejection due to the tensions between the two countries.
Image: Keystone

Oppression is a constant companion in the movie "Dom". Although the scenes are often quiet, they don't leave you cold.
Image: Keystone

In the documentary "Dom", young people from Russia find shelter in a bare house in Tbilisi. They try to continue their work on their laptops.
Image: Keystone

The documentary "Dom" focuses on how critics of the Russian regime in Georgia are also met with rejection due to the tensions between the two countries.
Image: Keystone

Oppression is a constant companion in the movie "Dom". Although the scenes are often quiet, they don't leave you cold.
Image: Keystone

In the documentary "Dom", young people from Russia find shelter in a bare house in Tbilisi. They try to continue their work on their laptops.
Image: Keystone

The documentary "Dom" focuses on how critics of the Russian regime in Georgia are also met with rejection due to the tensions between the two countries.
Image: Keystone

The documentary "Dom" focuses on how critics of the Russian regime in Georgia are also met with rejection due to the tensions between the two countries.
Image: Keystone

Oppression is a constant companion in the movie "Dom". Although the scenes are often quiet, they don't leave you cold.
Image: Keystone

In the documentary "Dom", young people from Russia find shelter in a bare house in Tbilisi. They try to continue their work on their laptops.
Image: Keystone

The documentary "Dom" focuses on how critics of the Russian regime in Georgia are also met with rejection due to the tensions between the two countries.
Image: Keystone

Oppression is a constant companion in the movie "Dom". Although the scenes are often quiet, they don't leave you cold.
Image: Keystone

In the documentary "Dom", young people from Russia find shelter in a bare house in Tbilisi. They try to continue their work on their laptops.
Image: Keystone

The documentary "Dom" focuses on how critics of the Russian regime in Georgia are also met with rejection due to the tensions between the two countries.
Image: Keystone
The quiet yet intense documentary "Dom" portrays a group of young people who had to leave the country due to repression in Russia. It is celebrating its Swiss premiere at the 60th Solothurn Film Festival and has been nominated for the "Prix de Soleure".
In a house in the Georgian capital Tbilisi, a group is sitting in front of the television. They don't quite know whether to laugh or cry - although they know the regime in Russia, where they come from, they still find it absurd how the war of aggression against Ukraine is justified on Russian television.
They have found shelter in the house: Activists, journalists, bloggers, Navalny supporters. Young people who felt forced to leave because of the repression in Russia. Now they are sitting in this bare house, sharing rooms and discussing the war and the dangers they fear because of their critical stance. Some of them can't even work properly. Nevertheless, they spend most of their time sitting in front of their laptops and writing. Or they make phone calls to friends whose safety they are worried about.
A reserved approach
The film "Dom" by Svetlana Rodina and Laurent Stoop follows the protagonists in this improvised accommodation, sometimes together as a group, sometimes individually. Rodina and Stoop do this in a restrained manner, giving the space entirely to their characters. "I can't even buy a cat. What will happen to it if I go to prison?" asks one protagonist of his roommate.
Rodina and Stoop wrote the book and directed the film together. They have already enjoyed success with the multi-award-winning film "Ostrov. The Lost Island" (2021) has already brought them success. The screenwriter and director is the former editor-in-chief of the documentary film department of one of Russia's largest production companies. Born in Lausanne, Stoop is also responsible for the camera for "Dom".
"You are not welcome"
This camera has captured many cold images, but they do not leave you cold. For example, there is no denying the depressed mood at what is actually a happy birthday party for a flatmate. Sometimes the camera is simply pointed at the many shoes in the entrance. Or the image shows a graffiti on the street: "Russians, you are not welcome in Georgia!" - in German: "Russians, you are not welcome in Georgia!"
And so the film, which is celebrating its Swiss premiere at the 60th Solothurn Film Festival and has been nominated for the "Prix de Soleure", endowed with 60,000 francs, poses highly political questions. These not only relate to Georgia and Russia, but can be extended to the entire West. For example: isn't it only possible to speak of peace policy if opponents of war from Russia are also accepted?
The protagonists, the "digital dissidents", as the filmmakers call them, are not only active online. In exile, they take part in protests against Putin's war. Then they return to their homes, hope for an end to the war and find themselves confronted with the question of where they are actually still at home.