Pushkin House, in collaboration with Curzon, presents a screening of The Trial by Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa. The event is timed to coincide with the pre-release screening of Loznitsa’s most recent feature, Two Prosecutors, at Curzon Bloomsbury on 9 March 2026. As part of this programme, Loznitsa will also be in conversation with researcher Polly Jones at Pushkin House on 11 March.

The Trial reconstructs, almost in real time, a fabricated Stalin-era trial that took place in Moscow in 1930. In the Pillar Hall of the House of Unions, a group of prominent engineers and economists stand accused of sabotage, economic subversion and conspiring with foreign powers to overthrow Soviet rule. Rehearsed accusations and ritualised confessions unfold under the watchful gaze of the public with frightening theatrical precision.

Built entirely from carefully restored archival footage with synchronised sound, Loznitsa’s film offers no narrator to guide the viewer. Instead, the proceedings speak for themselves, revealing an apparatus of power that turns law into spectacle and truth into something manufactured in front of an audience.

After the screening, there will be a Q&A session with Sergei Loznitsa.

Sergei Loznitsa is a Ukrainian film director who was born in 1964 in Baranovichi. He grew up in Kyiv, where he graduated from the Kyiv Polytechnic Institute and worked as a scientist. In 1997, he graduated from the Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow, where he studied feature filmmaking. Loznitsa has been making films since 1996, and to date he has directed 28 award-winning documentaries and five fiction films. In 2018, he received the award for Best Director in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival for his fourth feature film, Donbass. His most recent fiction film, Two Prosecutors, was presented in the main competition of the Cannes Film Festival in May 2025. 

The Trial
dir. Sergei Loznitsa, 2018
Running time: 129 min
In Russian with English subtitles

Image courtesy of ATOMS & VOID

Curzon Soho, 99 Shaftesbury Ave London W1D 5DY