The Natural History of Destruction

Germany, Lithuania, The Netherlands2022documentary110'Docs+Science (2023)

European cities as seen from the boards of aircraft during carpet-bombing made a stunningly beautiful picture which was horrifying in a primeval manner. These images of hell, like never before, were planned by the engineers of war with scientific precision. To create the choreography of destruction, they employed the instruments of mathematics and physics. The director uses archive footage, unpublished so far, to express with series of hypnotic images what was written in prose by W.G. Sebald - the horror of those whose fate was never part of any equation.

directed by
Sergei Loznitsa, portret reżysera
Sergei Loznitsa

Ukrainian director of documentary and fiction films. In 1987 he graduated from the Kiev Polytechnic with a degree in Applied Mathematics. Between 1987 and 1991 he worked as a scientist at the Kiev Institute of Cybernetics. In 1997 Loznitsa graduated from the Russian State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK) in Moscow. He has been making documentary films from 1996, 16 of which won awards at numerous festivals. His fiction films include My Joy and In the Fog.

music
Christiaan Verbeek
sound
Vladimir Golovnitski
editing
Danielius Kokanauskis
production
Regina Bouchehri, Gunnar Dedio (LOOKSfilm), Uljana Kim (Studio Uljana Kim), Sergei Loznitsa, Maria Choustova (ATOMS & VOID)
Photo
Kadr z filmu The Natural History of Destruction
Trailer