The images of the condemnation and execution of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena on Christmas Day in 1989 are etched deeply in the collective unconscious of several generations of television viewers. Exactly 20 years after its occurrence, the famous show trial was re-enacted in a historically reproduced setting. The film interweaves the stage production with interviews conducted with eyewitnesses and archive material, and takes a look backstage in the Odeon Theatre in Bucharest.

The Last Days of the Ceaușescus

What would Jesus preach in the 21st century? Who would his disciples be? And how would today's society respond to the return of the Son of God? With The New Gospel, Milo Rau is staging a "Revolt of Dignity". Led by political activist Yvan Sagnet, the movement is fighting for the rights of migrants who came to Europe across the Mediterranean to be enslaved on the tomato fields in southern Italy and to live in ghettos under inhumane conditions.

The New Gospel

"An acting family plays the members of a family about to take their own lives in this heartbreaking celebration of the ordinary. (...) Performed at the stately pace of a slow piece of Bach, Familie is assured, soulful and unnerving." - The Guardian

Family

In March 2013, a courtroom was set up to provide a stage for a show trial that pitted the different sides of the cultural war in Russia. Yet the people on stage were no professional thespians but real-life actors: artists, politicians, church leaders, real lawyers, a real judge and a real jury. Director Milo Rau achieved a unique and oppressive insight into Russia under Putins authoritarian reign.