Irish Film Institute -International Film Directory – Film Listing

Under the Hood

    • Director

      Mark Byrne , Rob Dennis

    • Credits

      Producer: Jeremiah Cullinane, Bartolomeo Dibenedetto, Rasa Miskinyte

  • Category

    Documentary

Under the Hood explores life inside Belarus, the former Soviet republic where the battle for democracy, social justice and civil rights has yet to be won. The film is constructed through the voices of ordinary Belarusians and through the mundane details of their everyday lives. Characters include poor communal farmers in tiny villages who support Lukashenko, the autocratic President since 1994, and also opponents of his regime such as Iryna, a veteran journalist whose reporting on the regime has caused her to be arrested, interrogated, beaten and kept under constant surveillance. She and others like her live “under the hood” – a local expression meaning on the radar of the KGB, suspected, followed, threatened and intimidated. Irish filmmakers Mark Byrne and Rob Dennis have constructed a penetrating and compelling vision of life in this most opaque of nations.

Notes by Sunniva O'Flynn

75 minutes, Ireland/Lithuania/Belarus, 2013, Colour

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