Na de lente van '68

In the sixties, Simon van der Horst, the filmmaker’s father, left to study in Russia. In Moscow, he fell in love with a Russian girl, and they married in 1968. Simon, now an engineer, wanted to return to the Netherlands with his wife. However, Russia invaded Czechoslovakia in the spring of 1968 and promptly their first application for an exit visa was rejected without any reason given. A period of four years followed, during which their daughter Aliona was born, and applications were repeatedly refused. The family even called in the help of the Dutch Communist Party, but this did not do them any good, either. From the letters that Simon wrote in those years and that he now, after thirty years, reads together with his daughter, it is clear how difficult a time it was. When his wife was finally permitted to leave the country, it was really too late: during the preceding years, they had grown too far apart. Director Aliona van der Horst is a member of the Silver Wolf jury. (International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam)