A visually and emotionally powerful performance about memory, resistance, and the consequences of information warfare
Free Admission
Ruslan is a journalist. Every day he cycles through his hometown of Hrodna in western Belarus—an old European city, geographically closer to Warsaw and Copenhagen than to Moscow—capturing the pulse of the news. His true passion is documenting the life of the city and collecting stories about people and places that would otherwise be lost.
This is perhaps no coincidence. Hrodna's history bears clear traces of shifting borders and affiliations. In 1939, the city was incorporated into the Soviet Union as a result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact—a rupture that continues to cast long shadows over the region's history.
When Hrodna becomes a center for the protests in Belarus following the presidential election in August 2020, reality begins to crack. Suddenly, the line between truth and illusion is blurred—and in these cracks, the past emerges with renewed clarity, casting new light on the present.
Ruslan's grip on reality begins to slip. Driven by the need to create coherence, he explores the values that shape our understanding of identity—and the crucial role that independent journalism plays when the truth is under pressure.
The Last Witness is a visually and emotionally powerful performance about memory, resistance, and the consequences of information warfare.
The performance is followed by a conversation about freedom of expression, where perspectives from Belarus are placed in dialogue with a broader European context.
Warning: Contains strong language and scenes of violence, including police violence.
Artistic Team
Text: Amalia Riznich
Direction: [name omitted for security reasons]
Cast
Mitya Savelau
Natallia Liavonava
Aliaksandr Ratsko
Aliaksei Vainilovich
Dzmitry Rachkouski (voice)
Context
Five years later, over one million Belarusians have been forced to leave the country. More than 1,100 political prisoners remain incarcerated.
At the same time, some individuals have been released due to international pressure, while new ones continue to be detained.
Project Organizers:
Ad Astra Social Impact Studio (London)
Beladania Culture Society (Copenhagen)
Partners in Denmark:
Danish Union of Journalists, International Media Support, Danish UNESCO Commission, and Danish PEN.
The project was realized with support from The German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Premiere
The Last Witness premiered in November 2024 at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin as part of the project “Contextual Echoes of Civic Resilience.” The performance was also staged in Warsaw and Paris in February 2026.
“A powerful artistic image is the journalist's mother, who tries to convince him that the protests are provocations by Western intelligence services” - Deutsche Welle.
Translated using AI