Since the large-scale expansion of the Russo-Ukrainian war in February 2022, Russian citizens have become increasingly isolated from the Western world. Within their own country, conditions have grown more authoritarian, with dissenting political voices and independent media largely silenced. Protecting the names and identities of its interviewees, this animated short documentary gives Russians a rare chance to speak with unguarded honesty about how the war has changed their lives, as well as how they view their homeland in its wake.
For this intimate project, he dusted off his parents' long-buried VHS recordings, most of them shot before he was born, after the fall of the Iron Curtain. The footage depicts the pair as their homeland was experiencing a fragile new sense of hope, and follows them on their travels while working for the World Bank, documenting journeys to countries including Vietnam, India and Cuba.