WUNRN
Women Make Movies - WMM
RUSSIA-SIBERIA - FILM: MISS GULAG -
WOMEN IN PRISON - PERSONAL STORIES
Film Segment:
MISS
GULAG is a rare look at the lives of the first generation of women to come of
age in post-Soviet Russia, where women’s unemployment and incarceration rates
are very high.
Shot
inside a Siberian prison camp and the surrounding countryside, this absorbing
documentary traces the individual paths of three young women now at different
points in their lives: Tatiana, whose parole hearing and early release are
captured on film; Natasha, living in freedom with her family in a remote
village; and Yulia, not yet twenty and facing still more prison time. Like
their individual circumstances, the shared experience of long jail sentences
has made them vigilant about their own destinies. Incarceration and an
environment of constant surveillance are harsh, but no less so than life
outside. Yet all three women, their families, and loved ones are sustained by
hope.
Discovering an Internet item about an annual beauty pageant staged by women
inmates of UF91-9, director Maria Yatskova (born in Moscow and living in the US
since the age of five) was inspired to make MISS GULAG. The film’s compelling,
moving stories of survival shed light on democracy’s darker side and offer a
look at the issues facing women in post Soviet Russia.
MISS
GULAG is a rare look at the lives of the first generation of women to come of
age in post-Soviet Russia, where women’s unemployment and incarceration rates
are very high. Shot inside a Siberian prison camp and the surrounding
countryside, this absorbing documentary traces the individual paths of three
young women now at different points in their lives: Tatiana, whose parole hearing
and early release are captured on film; Natasha, living in freedom with her
family in a remote village; and Yulia, not yet twenty and facing still more
prison time. Like their individual circumstances, the shared experience of long
jail sentences has made them vigilant about their own destinies. Incarceration
and an environment of constant surveillance are harsh, but no less so than life
outside. Yet all three women, their families, and loved ones are sustained by
hope.
Discovering an Internet item about an annual beauty pageant staged by women
inmates of UF91-9, director Maria Yatskova (born in Moscow and living in the US
since the age of five) was inspired to make MISS GULAG. The film’s compelling,
moving stories of survival shed light on democracy’s darker side and offer a
look at the issues facing women in post Soviet Russia.