IDFA Special: The Natural History of Destruction

The Natural History of Destruction

For his latest film, Sergei Loznitsa took inspiration from the collection of essays The Natural History of Destruction (1999), in which writer W.G. Sebald interrogates why German post-war literature is so anxiously silent about the destruction of German cities by Allied bombing. Using archival footage from World War II, Loznitsa's film explores the moral implications of destroying a civilian population as an act of war. Can mass destruction be justified for the sake of higher "moral" ideals? The question is as relevant today as it was eighty years ago, and current political events tragically demonstrate its urgency.

• Screendaily: "Sergei Loznitsa’s seventh archival doc is an intense, conscience-stirring work. (...) The Natural History of Destruction posits, voicelessly, that the world has looked away for so long that it has doomed itself to repeat these crimes, right now, even as you watch."
• The Guardian: "A harrowing account of aerial warfare."
• The Hollywood Reporter: "Made with uncompromising intellectual rigor and singularity of purpose, Sergei Loznitsa’s latest feature-length assemblage of archive footage unspools material showing the before, during and after of carpet-bombing during World War II."

Program

• Doors open from 18:30
• Start program 18:45
• After the film there is a Q&A with Sergei Loznitsa by IDFA's artistic director Orwa Nyrabia
• End of program 20:50

Practical

Date
Wednesday June 8th 2022

Ticket price
Standard: €11.50
IDFA Friends: €8.50

Location
Koninklijk Theater Tuschinski
Reguliersbreestraat 26-34
1017 CN Amsterdam