Somewhere, at a remote train station in faraway Russia, pretty young Natalia is miserably married to a brutish, much older man who regards her as a domestic servant. When her husband unceremoniously drops dead, Natalia (Ksenia Kutepova) finds herself free for the first time in her life. Awakening to her own appeal, she strikes up a dalliance with a local lad, a cheeky truck driver (Dmitri Dyuzhev) but can’t help but wonder if there’s even more to discover beyond the confines of her country house with only a goat and a dog passing for society… The director: “I was attracted by the motif of a woman waking up sensually. The main character is travel- ing from non-existence, from her inadequate understanding of the world and a semi-dumb state towards blossoming and becoming a human. It’s rather an inner process, but the time has come when she starts analyzing who and what she is and what she needs in this life.” A Best Picture winner at the 2007 Moscow International Film Festival.

RUSSIA • 2007 • 97 MINUTES • DIRECTOR: VERA STOROZHEVA