‘Two Prosecutors’ Trailer – A Political Prisoner Seeks Justice in Sergei Loznitsa’s Stalin-Era Drama

Set in the Soviet Union in 1937 amid Joseph Stalin’s Great Purge, Two Prosecutors, from Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa, follows a young Soviet prosecutor seeking justice for a political prisoner.

Adapted from a semi-autobiographical novella by political prisoner and writer Georgy Demidov, the film stars Aleksandr Kuznetsov, Aleksandr Filippenko, Anatoliy Beliy, Andris Keišs, Vytautas Kaniušonis, Valentin Novopolskij, and Dmitrij Denisiuk.

Two Prosecutors premiered in competition at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, then went on to screen at other major international festivals, including the New York Film Festival, the BFI London Film Festival, the Adelaide Film Festival, and the Sarajevo Film Festival. It is now set for a U.S. theatrical release beginning March 30, 2026, via by Janus Films.

Here is the official synopsis of Two Prosecutors: The latest film from the great Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa (My Joy) is a scalpel-precise tale of the horrors of totalitarian bureaucracy. Adapting a novel by Soviet writer and political prisoner Georgy Demidov, set in the Soviet Union in 1937, Loznitsa follows the attempts of an idealistic government-appointed prosecutor (Alexander Kuznetsov) to expose the mistreatment of a dissident Bolshevik writer who has been jailed and tortured without evidence of wrongdoing. As he gradually comes to realize, the lack of cause for the man’s imprisonment is hardly unique under Stalin’s regime, and the neophyte lawyer may be putting himself in danger by exposing his own moral righteousness. Loznitsa constructs his story with a patient yet unmistakable sense of mounting dread, focusing on the devastating minutiae that allows fascism to function in our world.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, director Sergei Loznitsa discussed what he expects the U.S. audience’s reaction to be to his film, saying, “I think they will recognize recent times — the direction of America now with this authoritarian leader.”

He added, “It reflects this story, which is set in the 1930s, like 100 years ago, which means that not a lot of things have changed in the world, and people are not changing.”

In a review from RMITV, the film is praised for exposing “how bureaucratic machinery can become a weapon,” illustrating how totalitarian systems isolate and intimidate dissenters until resistance is nearly impossible. The review describes Two Prosecutors as “A slow burn, but a gripping one, Two Prosecutors is among the most fascinating films you’ll see this year”.

Watch the official trailer for Two Prosecutors above.