Throughout the film, diary fragments from Akimenko’s memoirs vividly describe the 1916 mass murder in Belovodsk. In Bishkek, Baytik meets someone whose ancestor suffered another 1916 massacre. Islam reads his poem at an anti-war event organized by Russians. Baytik comes to Islam to ask to contribute to his memorial with a painting. In Belovodsk Baytik shows the place of the massacre to his friend. In his office under the gaze of white marble Lenin, Baytik writes a letter to Vladimir Putin about his memorial. Baytik and Islam go to the Peak of Putin. Baytik explains how the survivors of the 1916 massacre escaped through these places. He wants those events painted in a grand Socialist Realism style. Instead, Islam paints a surreal naked headless body.
Participant: Janyl Chytyrbaeva