International Competition

From the mist there emerges the runway of Warsaw airport. The guard of honour of the Polish Army is waiting to solemnly welcome those who have just arrived in Poland. But there is no one to welcome this time. On their shoulders the soldiers carry invisible coffins in front of invisible spectators and carefully place them on special racks - all to the rhythm of Chopin’s ‘Funeral March’. We observe all the intricate choreography, which turns out to be a rehearsal for the ceremony. This short black-and-white film is a record of events that took place after 10 April 2010, one of the most important dates in modern Polish history. On that day, 96 people, including the Polish president and government representatives died in a plane crash near Smolensk. They were on their way to Russia to participate in a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, the mass murder of Polish officers carried out by the NKVD.