ALIONA VAN DER HORST RETROSPECTIVE

Boris Ryzhy

Year
2008
Country
The Netherlands
Duration
59’’
Director
Aliona van der Horst

As the filmmaker embarks on a quest to understand the reasons for the 26-yearold hooligan poet's suicide, she reveals the hidden tragedy of the lost perestroika generation, to whom Boris gave a voice. “We were thrown out of communism, but never reached capitalism”, as his young widow puts it. The Yeltsin era, which the West associated with democracy and freedom, felt very different in the lawless streets of Yekaterinburg, where gangsters slaughtered each other on a daily basis. But despite this grim reality, it’s a poetic film with a tragic-comic touch about Boris’s love for life: through his poems, pain is transformed into grace.

Production and Sales
Zeppers Film+TV, Ruysdaelkade 223 BG, 1072 AW Amsterdam, 020-6758594
Director
Aliona van der Horst

This Dutch/Russian director has made five documentaries which have won international awards. She studied Russian literature at Amsterdam University and directing at the Dutch Film Academy. She began her career in 1997 with the much-acclaimed documentary The Lady with the White Hat, and since then has received multiple awards for her films, including the Jan Kassies award for the poetic touch in her films.

Selected Filmography

The Lady with the White Hat (1997), After the spring of ’68 (2001), The Hermitage Dwellers (2004), Voices of Bam (2006), Boris Ryzhy (2008), Water Children (2011)

Cinema House, Blue Hall
Cinema House
vul. Saksahanskoho, 6
Q&A with director
22 INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
 6 — 13 
June 2025
The Hermitage Dwellers
ALIONA VAN DER HORST RETROSPECTIVE
The Hermitage Dwellers
Year
2006
Country
The Netherlands
Director
Aliona van der Horst
Duration
75’’
ALIONA VAN DER HORST RETROSPECTIVE
Voices of Bam
ALIONA VAN DER HORST RETROSPECTIVE
Voices of Bam
Year
2006
Country
The Netherlands
Director
Aliona van der Horst
Duration
90’’
ALIONA VAN DER HORST RETROSPECTIVE
The Dissident and the General
ALIONA VAN DER HORST RETROSPECTIVE
The Dissident and the General
Year
1998
Country
The Netherlands
Director
Aliona van der Horst
Duration
15’’
ALIONA VAN DER HORST RETROSPECTIVE