MISHA

MISHA is an impressive portrait of Mikhail Bezverkhni, a 73-year-old top musician of Russian origin, who won the Queen Elisabeth Violin Competition in Brussels in 1976. On his return, he was put under house arrest by the KGB for 14 years. Only in 1990, after the implosion of the Soviet Union, could he emigrate to Belgium. Mikhail Bezverkhni apparently lives on the seamy side of society. He appears as a shabby street musician who plays beautiful pieces from the repertoire of great composers. But his appearance is only the veil of his ambivalent relationship to the public. He does not want to be on the big stages; he prefers to play in small halls, in churches, pubs and on the street. He rejects bourgeois success and money. He wants to be Prometheus, who brings the music of the gods to the people.