Slightly Opening The Door

In a small Chechen village, Yaha spends her days with Madina, with whom she is very close. Both girls dream of leaving their homes after graduation and escaping to the real world, far from their village. Yaha’s older sister Heda also dreams of being free, but the price for this is very high - if she decides to try for a divorce, her only son will be taken away from her, such are the traditions in her culture. Will Yaha, Madina and Heda succeed to get free, and at what cost?

Sofichka returns to her native Abkhaz village in Georgia after twenty years of absence. Seeing again home and meeting with villagers take her to memory lane and all Sofichka’s life passes before her eyes: her wedding with Rufus, betrayal of the neighbour Nuri, difficult years of war, exile in Siberia. But in spite of everything, in spite of all the tough experiences, Sofichka continues to believe in people and in life, staying true to the memory of her husband who died young.

Diploma work of the Kabardino-Balkar State University (Alexander Sokurov's workshop)

After the divorce Mariyana returns to his native village. With her no one communicates, except for a new neighbor - a mysterious woman in a Muslim scarf.

About a young scientist from Syria who moves to Russia with his sister. The scientist suffers from a rare disease - "insensibility."

A teenage girl from a dysfunctional family, whose parents keep an inexpensive roadside cafe, runs away from home. "It's not I who left them, they left me," - so the girl explains her flight.

Mikail had to flee Chechnya for being homosexual. Unexpectedly meeting his old childhood-friend Daud in Germany, Mikal is not only faced with a renewed friendship, but a recurring fear of persecution.