Prison warden by day, viral diva by night — Russia's most unexpected pop star is serving TIME.
A woman who works as a warden in a prison secretly aspires to be a singer. When an inmate posts a video of her singing online, she becomes a sensation and her desire to follow her passion intensifies.
Acting
Strelkova-Oboldina's deadpan desperation is everything.
Direction
Pletnyov finds poetry in provincial bleakness.
Writing
Prison bureaucracy vs. pop dreams: absurdly specific.
Director
Kirill Pletnyov
Inga Strelkova-Oboldina
Alevtina
Viktoriya Isakova
Masha Star
Anna Ukolova
Vera Sergeevna
Vladimir Ilin
Ivanych
Tatyana Dogileva
Yelena Sysoeva
Daniil Steklov
Mazhor
Aleksandra Bortich
Zhenya
Aleksei Shevchenkov
Sergey
Nikita Kologrivyy
Zhlob
Olga Buzova
Olga Buzova
Ekaterina Ageeva
Aleksandra (Shurka)
Alla Malkova
Alevtina’s grandmother
Petar Zekavica
Petar
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released during Russia's real-life viral star boom, it satirizes how provincial women become internet spectacles.
The prison setting isn't random — Pletnyov uses institutional confinement as metaphor for post-Soviet class stagnation.
RU
