Anastasiya Shemyakina

The story of the Podolsk cadets’ heroic stand outside Moscow in October 1941. Cadets were sent to the Ilyinsky line, fighting alongside units from the Soviet 43rd Army to hold back the German advance until reinforcements arrived. Hopelessly outnumbered, young men laid down their lives in a battle lasting almost two weeks to obstruct the far superior German forces advancing towards Moscow. Around 3,500 cadets and their commanding officers were sent to hold up the last line of defense outside Moscow. Most of them remained there for eternity.

A young woman and a young man meet in Istanbul. They both lack the money to live in the foreign city and they are both deaf. They connect, spend time together and do what young people always do – party carelessly and seek intimacy. They feel they are in love. But all is not quite as it seems. She’s from Ukraine, he’s from Russia, and there’s a war going on somewhere back home.

Minsk, August 2020. Pasha and Yulia, a young married couple, leave the house at night and find themselves in the midst of peaceful protests. Everyday walk turns into a real hell, in which innocent people are victims of police brutality.