The film is about a village with the poetic name Svetlana, which is located two hours away from St. Petersburg. It was built by volunteers in the mid-nineties for people with physical and mental disabilities, doomed to special closed psychoneurological boarding schools. Many of them, before they got to the village, could not put together two words, they sat at home, within four walls.
In Svetlana they avoid the words “disabled” or “sick”, preferring to call such people “guys”. They don’t do miraculous healings or special training here; the diagnosis is not important here. Here the children are simply given the conditions for a normal human life. Healthy and sick people communicate equally, work together, stage plays and run a joint household. Disabled people do not feel sick or handicapped. Everyone is equal here. Such villages do not treat disabled people, they treat society.
The filming of the film lasted about 13 years.
Scriptwriter and director Liliya Vyugina
Running time 75 minutes
Year of release – 2019