Alexander Sokurov used five television cameras to film Mozart’s Requiem Mass, which the Director himself had staged in the small Philharmonic Hall in Saint Petersburg in 2004.
        The main characteristic of the performance is that the chorus isn’t still, it moves around on the stage. The movements in space aren’t specified in the script; sometimes the chorus moves around chaotically, sometimes they come together on the proscenium, sometimes they gather at the back of the stage. In the same way, the soloists move around freely. Thanks to the lighting, these movements create a play of chiaroscuro. The film is not edited in a traditional manner. We didn’t try to respect the usual succession of the frames, nor did we follow the soloists, nor did we try to sustain the rhythm of the musical work through our editing. The rhythm of the film changes, it doesn’t always coincide with the rhythm of the music. The spectator follows the changes of lighting, the movements of the interpreters, their faces, their emotions. The people of Saint Petersburg who came to see the performance are also the characters of the film.
        (A. Sokurov)