After the Spring of '68 (2000)

Overview

Film about falling in love across a political, cultural and geographic divide. It tells of Simon, a Dutch communist student in Moscow, who meets and marries the Russian Zoya in the spring of 1968. Simon returns to the Netherlands, expecting his wife to follow shortly afterwards when her exit visa is granted. Her application however is refused over and over again. Months pass and then years. A child is born to Zoya in Moscow: director Aliona van der Horst relates her parents' struggle in this tender account of family history caught up in international politics. In the numerous love-letters he wrote to his beloved Zoya feelings of helplessness are expressed: 'Our happiness depends on how the political wind blows'. Van der Horst uses these letters as a guideline through the film. To tell her parents' story, Van der Horst weaves together archival footage, home movies and photographs with contemporary interviews.