GUESTS

Where there are officially no homeless people, there can also be no homeless shelters. Aliaksei Shchadrou has made it his mission to take in the stranded and lost as his “guests”. With a sober and quiet eye, the camera follows the deeply religious Belarusian in his daily dealings with the homeless and needy in his illegal hostel and out on the street. He never directs his words directly at potential viewers, instead communicating through his exchanges with his fellow humans. There’re no big speeches, no finger pointing or emotional entreaties here to obstruct the view of that which Shchadrou embodies without pathos, and that which drives him: unrestricted and unconditional respect for all individuals.