ANTON'S RIGHT HERE

A very personal documentary that follows the life of the autistic teenager Anton over a six-year-period. Film journalist and writer Lyubov Arkus was immediately fascinated when she chanced upon the short, artistic texts written by Anton, and finally met him several years later. At that point he was still living with his mother in a modest apartment. But then his mother fell gravely ill, and Anton faced the prospect of being locked away and permanently sedated in a state-run home. The filmmaker, who had meanwhile won the shy, highly strung young man’s confidence, fought for him to be given a place in the supervised environment of a large farm providing facilities for residents with disabilities. Anton flourished in his new home, and for a while things seemed perfect, but more than one dramatic twist lay in store. Lyubov Arkus‘ film debut is characterized by direct intervention rather than observational distance, by participation that turns into a fight for the dignity of a reserved individual deemed “unfit for human society”. A documentary film that transcends boundaries in moving fashion.