Danton's Death

The debut feature of a young Russian playwright and theatre director tells the story of the final days of the Dantonists, who represented the right wing of the Jacobins during the French Revolution. The figure of Danton, one of the founding fathers of the First French Republic and its brightest tribune, drew support from among those dissatisfied with the policy of the revolutionary dictatorship and advocated the mitigation of terror. All of them were brought before the Revolutionary Tribunal and executed. Andrey Stadnikov’s experimental work loosely references the eponymous play by Georg Büchner, which in many ways foreshadowed the documentary theatre of the 20th century, and draws bold parallels with modernity. The film focuses on the relationship between Danton and Robespierre and the problems of revolutionary violence and justice, questioning why the revolution never fails to devour its children.