Hamilton professors Jason Cieply and Scott MacDonald present Sergei Loznitsa’s State Funeral (2019, 135 minutes).

Upon the death of Josef Stalin in March of 1953, the USSR produced The Great Farewell. Shot in the Soviet Union and beyond, the film culminated with the dictator’s colossal Red Square funeral. This Soviet tribute to Stalin was almost immediately suppressed and for many years was rarely seen.

In early 2019, with the help of Russian archives, Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa produced his own version of the funeral footage. Loznitsa’s film simultaneously honors the cinematographers who shot the film’s remarkable footage and undercuts The Great Farewell’s attempt to portray Stalin as history’s greatest leader.