Auf allen Meeren

The Kiev was the most important and largest Soviet warship during the Cold War. From 1994, the aircraft carrier lay as floating scrap off the North Sea coast of Russia, guarded and cared for by its last captain, until it was towed to China in the summer of 2000. This adventurous journey of the Kiev to its final resting place in Tianjin near Beijing is the pivotal point and central thread of the feature-length documentary film On All Seas. In essay form, the fate of this ship and its former crew, scattered in all directions by the political changes, is followed. In the process, it becomes apparent that the Kiev was not only a weapon-starved military machine, but also a propaganda instrument captured on canvas and celluloid, a myth for the glory and power of the Soviet Union. For many officers, this myth - often bizarre to us - is the only way to endure the new realities in today's Russia. The past covers the present like a veil. But the Kiev is only the starting point. In the course of the film, the ship becomes more and more a wide projection screen for the protagonists. The former aircraft carrier becomes a stage for private catastrophes, family traditions, political pride, mysticism and unfulfillable love.