SASHENKA

Sashenka was born a man but brought up as a girl. His strict and reserved mother dreamed of a daughter, so she started dressing her son in girlish clothes and addressing him with feminine pronouns. His father, passionately in love with his wife, did not dare to contradict her. For any disobedience, Sashenka was severely punished. His torment ended only when a mysterious murderer broke into the house and stole his father's shotgun. The investigation sheds light on the whole tragedy of a family whose relationships were built on oppression and violence. Ukrainian writer and director Olexandr Zhovna has worked as an educator for many years, but his new film describes more than just an isolated case of deviance. The disintegration of the protagonist's personality in this slow-motion black-and-white thriller acts as a mirror for the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Behind the scenes, propaganda news is constantly running and the characters are stuck in a vicious circle of violence in which the fight against any monster that tramples on human life and dignity is doomed to failure from the start - because the victor becomes a monster himself.

Text: Ksenia Reutova

The film will be shown in the original language with English subtitles and simultaneously translated into German. Headphones are available free of charge against a deposit in the cinema foyer.