GORBAČOVS. PARADĪZE

Latvia, Czech Republic

Synopsis

GORBACHEV. HEAVEN is a documentary film about changes that reverberated throughout the world wrought by one man. A film summing-up the life of a man who changed the world in the 20th century. Gorbachev’s short time in power was marked by the collapse of this empire. He was the architect of Glasnost and Perestroika, policies that gave the citizens of the Soviet Union - what Ronald Reagan called “the Evil Empire” - a chance to be free. He tore down the Berlin Wall. But at the same time, under his rule, the Chernobyl nuclear facility exploded and its destruction was concealed. Citizens demanding independence in the Baltic states died. Soldiers wielding shovels brutally suppressed protesters in Tbilisi. And Soviet tanks menaced, and killed, peaceful demonstrators in Baku. The Soviet empire collapsed under him – and he is condemned by his own people. With this burden of the past, this lonely old man is living the last days of his life in an empty house in the suburbs near Moscow.

Director's Statement

Mikhail Gorbachev will have monuments around the world. Somewhere very soon, somewhere – in Russia, for example – it will be many years before there is a sense of what this man has done for history.
 But I wanted that behind the coolness of bronze or marble there would be visible a man who decided on his own to make the world a better place. It was with this motivation that we undertook the lengthy job of persuading this world-weary 90-year-old old man to let us into his world of loneliness, frustration, and the joy of freedom!

Director's Biography

In 1982 Vitaly Manskiy began his studies at the All-Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK). His first film was made in 1989, and since then he has shot more than 30 films.
Manskiy's films were presented at more than 500 international film festivals, among which are Cannes, Locarno, San Sebastian, Rotterdam, Karlovy Vary, Berlin, Amsterdam, Moscow, Oberhausen, San-Francisco, Nyon, Munich, Toronto, Montreal, Turin, Krakow, Rio de Janeiro, Yamagata, Lisbon and many others. He has received more than 100 awards at festivals including two times the Silver Globe for Best Documentary at Karlovy Vary IFF, the Silver Dove at DOK Leipzig, the award for best director and special jury prize at Tallinn IFF "Black Nights", the Grand Prix in Warsaw, Jihlava, Stockholm, Trieste, Huesca, and Budapest among others. His 2018 film PUTIN’S WITNESSES was nominated in the Best Documentary category by the European Film Academy. Manskiy's films have been broadcast on the leading channels in almost all the European countries, as well as in Japan, Australia, China, Canada, South Korea and other countries.

Films produced by Manskiy were also awarded at numerous festivals, including the IDFA Prize in 2006, Le Grand Prix at Cinéma du Réel, the Silver Dove at DOK Leipzig, and others.
Since 1996 Manskiy has been working on a project that aims to create a comprehensive archive of amateur private video footage shot in the former USSR between the 1930's and the 1990's. This is a unique archive of amateur films providing unseen testimonies Soviet private life.
Vitaly Manskiy is a member of the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars), also Academician of the Russian Cinema Academy "NIKA", member of the Ukraninan Film Academy and of the Russian Film Academy "TEFI", general producer of National Film Award "Lavrovaya Vetv." He is the Founder and President of “Artdocfest,” a creative documentary film festival that takes place in Riga, Latvia as well as in Moscow.

Since 2014 Manskiy lives and works in Latvia.

FILMOGRAPHY:
2020 - GORBACHEV. HEAVEN
2018 - PUTIN'S WITNESSES
2016 - RODNYE (CLOSE RELATIONS)
2015 - UNDER THE SUN
2014 - THE BOOK
2013 - PIPELINE
2011 - MOTHERLAND OR DEATH
2009 - BEGINNING / NIKOLINA GORA. EPILOGUE
2008 - VIRGINITY / DAWN / SUNSET. DALAI LAMA XIV
2006 - TENDER HEART: WILD, WILD BEACH
2005 - GAGARIN'S PIONEERS
2003 - ANATOMY OF T.A.T.U.
2002 - BROADWAY. BLACK SEA
2001 - RED TSARS. PRESIDENTS OF RUSSIA / EPISODE: GORBACHEV. AFTER EMPIRE
2001 - RED TSARS. PRESIDENTS OF RUSSIA / EPISODE: YELTSIN. ANOTHER LIFE
2001 - RED TSARS. PRESIDENTS OF RUSSIA / EPISODE: PUTIN. LEAP YEAR
1999 - PRIVATE CHRONICLES. MONOLOGUE
1995 - BLISS
1993 - CUTS OF A RECURRENT WAR
1991 - LENIN'S BODY
1990-1995 - ETUDES ABOUT LOVE
 | 

Cast & Crew

Directed by: Vitaly Manskiy

Written by: Alexander Gelman, Vitaly Manskiy

Produced by: Natalia Manskaia, Filip Remunda, Vit Klusak

Editing: Yevgeny Rybalko

Original Score: Karlis Auzans

Sound: Anrijs Krenbergs

Nominations and Awards

  • Documentary Selection 2021