A Russian Fairytale (2013)

Street kids Kolya, Irina, Ksusha and Denis describe the abandoned building they live in as 'a Fairytale place' where anything is possible. Their gang have relied on each other since they were young kids; stealing, begging and turning tricks to survive on the streets of the broken, post-Soviet city of Perm, Russia. All born in the years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, they have created their own kind of society as together they battle with freezing temperatures, harassment from the police and their very vulnerable existance, using drink and drugs to block out the horrors of life and escape into fantasy. The four face their brutal, unforgiving world with grit and often caustic humour, but now, on the brink of adulthood, time is running out for any of the group to escape their toxic situation. Told with candid honesty and heart-breaking humour, A RUSSIAN FAIRYTALE is both eye-opening and utterly compelling, with tragic revelations woven between glimmers of hope.