State Funeral () is a 2019 internationally co-produced documentary film by Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa. It examines the ceremony and aftermath of Joseph Stalin, dictator of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from 1929 to his death in 1953.
Individuals shown in archive footage Joseph Stalin Lavrentiy Beria Nikita Khrushchev Georgy Malenkov Vyacheslav Molotov Nikolai Bulganin Klement Gottwald Bolesław Bierut Urho Kekkonen Zhou Enlai Valko Chervenkov Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej Mátyás Rákosi Walter Ulbricht Dolores Ibárruri Yumjaagiin Tsedenbal
Release State Funeral premiered at the 76th Venice International Film Festival on 6 September 2019, and the Toronto International Film Festival a week later on the 13th. It saw theatrical exhibition in Lithuania starting on 22 November 2019, and continued through film festivals and other territories before a limited release in the United States on 7 May 2021, before a streaming release on MUBI two weeks later, available also in Australia, Canada, Ireland, India, Latin America, New Zealand, Turkey and the United Kingdom.
Reception On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 88% based on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 7.60/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "If State Funeral risks repetitiveness in its patient approach, the glimpse of history it offers remains a fascinating -- and frightening -- look at life under a totalitarian regime." Metacritic reports a weighted average score of 81 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".
Award Category Recipient(s) Result Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival Depth of Field Competition Sergei Loznitsa Depth of Field Competition - Honorable Mention IndieLisboa International Independent Film Festival Silvestre Award (Best Feature Film) National Lithuania Film Awards Best Co-Production Film Sergei LoznitsaAtoms & Void Audience Award Best Film Editing Danielius KokanauskisAtoms & Void Best Sound Mixing Vladimir GolovnitskiyAtoms & Void Russian Guild of Film Critics White Elephant (Best Documentary) Sergei Loznitsa 31st Stockholm International Film Festival Bronze Horse Wiesbaden goEast Best Documentary
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