Automat Kalashnikov

The portrait of a weapon which, unlike any other, has become the embodiment of a global political idea: AK47 is synonymous with armed struggle and battles for "liberation from imperialist suppression" all over the world. Its very name conjures up images of freedom fighters, guerillas, revolutionaries,terrorists, mercenaries and "People's Liberation Armies". But at the end of the 20th Century, the complex idea of large-scale world revolution has crumbled.

Today over 70 million of these easy-to-handle and relatively cheap automatic weapons are available on the global market, making the deadly reliability of the AK47 within easy reach of just about anyone.

AUTOMAT KALASHNIKOV links the parallel stories of the secret life of AK47 designer and inventor, Michail T. Kalaschnikov, with guerillas fighting with AK47s and criminals for whom the AK47 is increasingly the weapon of choice. From the small quiet town in the Urals where Kalaschnikov still lives on his modest $50/month pension, to the