Sixteen-year-old Marusya had decided to end her life at the end of the year, until she met a shy young grunge boy named Kimi. From then on, the inseparable couple will capture the euphoria, anxiety and misery of their precarious existence in the shadow of an oppressive government. Skillfully filmed over 12 years, this raw, exuberant and moving love story offers a look at a silenced generation of rebellious young people struggling to survive in Putin's Russia. (RS)
2022 - ACID Cannes
2022 - Visions du Réel - Special Mention in the International Competition
2022 - DOC NYC - Grand Jury Award in International Competition
2022 - Kasseler Dokfest - Golden Key Award for Best Feature Film
2022 - Festival International du Film d’Amiens - Grand Prix Long-métrage
Marusya Syroechkovskaya (1989) is a Moscow-born award-winning filmmaker and visual artist, who had to flee Russia as the March 2022 crackdown on opposition voices increased. Marusya studied filmmaking at the School for Documentary Film in Moscow under professor Marina Razbezhkina and received her MA in Film Directing at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Moscow (graduated with honors). Her student short, “Exploration of Confinement” received a Jury Award at the New Orleans Film Festival 2013 and qualified for the 2013 Academy Awards. It was also selected for the 35th Moscow International Film Festival, the Message to Man International Film Festival 2013, Tenerife Shorts Film Festival 2014, and a number of other international film festivals. Her training includes workshops such as Ex Oriente Film, Flahertiana, and IDFAcademy. Marusya is a 2015 Nipkow Program Fellow (Berlin).
2013 - “Exploration of Confinement” (Cortometraje)
2012 - “Chistiy chelovek” (Cortometraje documental)