Tanya Haurylchyk

Aswang follows a group of people whose lives have been caught up in these events: a journalist who tries to make a stand against lawlessness, a coroner, a missionary brother who comforts bereaved family members, and a street kid with parents in prison and friends in the cemetery. The film is a shocking account of unprecedented violence and the moral bankruptcy of a regime that still enjoys support from voters.

Maryna, Pavel and Denis belong to an underground theatre group in Minsk, Belarus. In the course of the 2020 presidential elections, they take part in the peaceful mass protests, together with thousands of people. They narrowly escape arrest and torture. What unites them is the hope for freedom of speech and democracy.

Belarus is a country of authoritarianism, capital punishment and poverty which is fighting a ruthless war on drugs. Thousands of young people end up behind bars because of the Criminal Code’s infamous ‘anti-drug’ Article 328. When 19-year-old Diana died of an overdose of ecstasy in her boyfriend Illia’s arms, her friends were too scared to call an ambulance. Only Anton asked for help, realising that he was facing up to 25 years in prison.

Two activists, Alina and Ihar, have been fighting for a stronger presence of the Belarusian language for over a decade. In Belarus, Belarusian, despite being a state language, has been marginalized and excluded from most public spheres. Writing appeals to state institutions and companies to enforce a current law has been for Alina and Ihar the main form of resistance against the dominance of the Russian language. This activism has put them in danger, when after the 2020 rigged elections in Belarus repressions reached an unprecedented level. Escaping persecution, Alina and Ihar have fled their house and gone into hiding inside their own country – the choice the danger of which would be rethought only much later.