“When Flowers Are Not Silent” (2021) by Andrei Kutsila

Authors

  • Sasha Razor University of California, Santa Barbara

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17892/app.2026.00022.433

Keywords:

Andrei Kutsila, Belarus, documentary film, exile cinema, 2020 Belarusian protests, women’s protest, post-Soviet cinema, domestic space, counter-archive

Abstract

Andrei Kutsila’s [Kali kvetki ne maŭchatsʹ] / Gdy kwiaty nie milczą / When Flowers Are Not Silent (2021, Poland) relocates the violence of Belarus’s 2020 crackdown from the street into the home, following three women through the aftermath of detention, exile. This review argues that the film’s restrained observational form turns women’s daily care work into a counter-archive of authoritarian repression.

Калі кветкі не маўчаць / Gdy kwiaty nie milczą (2021) Андрэя Куцілы

Фільм Андрэя Куцілы [Калі кветкі не маўчаць] / Gdy kwiaty nie milczą / When Flowers Are Not Silent (2021, Польшча) паказвае рэпрэсіі 2020 года не з вуліцы, а з дому. Яго гераіні — тры жанчыны, якія перажываюць затрыманне, выгнанне і траўму. У рэцэнзіі сцвярджаецца, што стрыманая назіральная форма фільма ператварае штодзённы жаночы клопат у контрархіў аўтарытарных рэпрэсій.

Ключавыя словы: Андрэй Куціла, Беларусь, дакументальны фільм, кіно ў выгнанні, беларускія пратэсты 2020 года, жаночы пратэст, постсавецкае кіно, хатняя прастора, контрархіў.

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Published

08-07-2026

How to Cite

Razor, Sasha. 2026. “‘When Flowers Are Not Silent’ (2021) by Andrei Kutsila”. Apparatus. Film, Media and Digital Cultures of Central and Eastern Europe, no. 22 (July). https://doi.org/10.17892/app.2026.00022.433.

Issue

No. 22 (2026): Belarusian Cinema and the Protests of 2020: Cinema in Exile

Section

Film Reviews: Belarusian Cinema

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Copyright (c) 2026 Apparatus. Film, Media and Digital Cultures of Central and Eastern Europe

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