A new film, The Noise of Time, will peek behind the Iron Curtain to focus on 20th century Russian musician Dmitri Shostakovich, from his personal relationships to life as a composer under Stalin and Khrushchev.
Born in 1906 in St Petersburg, Dmitri Shostakovich came of age in the grip of the Soviet Union, where his own turbulent relationship with the government landed him in hot water on multiple occasions.
Twice-denounced by the Communist Party for writing non-conforming music, much of Shostakovich’s musical output has since been interpreted through a highly-politicised lens.
The film is the latest in a spate of recently released and announced films on classical musicians, from Leonard Bernstein and Handel to Mozart, and the fictional conductor Lydia Tár.