Starring: Oksana Akinshina, Liliya Shinkaryova, Elina Benenson, Artiom Bogucharski, Pavel Ponomaryov

Co-presented by Screen Slate. Choose the “Repertory Reserved + $5 donation” ticket to add on a $5 donation to support Screen Slate with your ticket purchase!

20th anniversary screening!

After her mother abandons her for a life in the United States, 16 year old Lilya is forced to find her own way in an unnamed desolate city in the former Soviet Union. Stuffed into a tiny apartment still cluttered with a recently deceased man’s possessions, she sniffs glue with friends and blows off school. At first she attempts to avoid the only available means of income for herself, but eventually sex work becomes a viable option. When she meets the charming Andrei, she is enticed by his promise of a better life in Sweden. Following there, she is thrown into a life she has no control over.

With harrowing moments giving way to magical realism, director Lukas Moodysson (We Are the Best) weaves a bleak tale that will absolutely gut you.