Unclenching the Fists

• Kira Kovalenko
• 97 min
• Russia
• 2021
• Fiction

In a desolate town in North Ossetia–Alania, a young woman tries to escape her family’s suffocating grasp in this phenomenal Cannes winner.

Ada is a prisoner in her own home. High up in the mountains in Russia’s North Ossetia–Alania, she lives with her controlling father and younger brother. When the father suddenly falls ill and the caring older brother Akim returns to the family, unhealed wounds begin to open beneath the surface and Ada sees the possibility of leaving her prison of a home. But her health is fragile and time is running out. Director Kira Kovalenko aims deep into the bone marrow as she subtly weaves her gripping drama about a broken family, abuse, and tender love between siblings in an oppressive patriarchy. Don’t clench your fist too hard, there is hope beyond the mountains. Filmmaking on a high level.

- Niclas Goldberg

• Drama
• Familj
• Uppbrott
• Landsbygd