Hear my Cry

Hear my Cry

Synopsis

Ryszard Siwiec immolated himself at the harvest festival at the Warsaw Stadium Dziesieciolecie in 1968 in protest against Communist totalitarism and the Warsaw Pact intervention in Czechoslovakia. Although witnessed by thousands of people this event was never made public. It only exists in the memory of those who witnessed it and seven seconds of film footage captured by a newsreel crew which was covering the festival. Virtually, his sacrifice never took place. Through conversations with eye witnesses and Siwiec’s family members, Drygas documents the double nature of this tragedy: the motivations for the self-sacrifice of an uncompromising man, and why his protest was silenced.