A Belarusian prison where motherhood goes to die — documented with devastating restraint.
The soulless atmosphere of a women's penitentiary destroys the prisoners' personality, kills all femininity in them. The film looks at the rationality of the long prison terms for women with children.
Direction
Miroshnichenko's invisible presence lets horror speak in whispers.
Cinematography
Bleached corridors that swallow women whole — no escape in the frame.
Director
Anastasiya Miroshnichenko
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Belarus has one of Europe's highest female incarceration rates, with most women imprisoned for nonviolent economic crimes. The film exposes a system where 5-10 year sentences for theft function as family destruction.
Miroshnichenko spent two years gaining access and filmed during Lukashenko's 2015 'amnesty' — none of her subjects qualified. The title's irony deepens with this context.
RU
BY
