SVETA

How does a deaf Russian woman living in today’s Kazakhstan manage to stay afloat? Maybe like this: by never ever showing weakness or compassion, taking hold of her own destiny despite a physical handicap and – where there’s no alternative – being prepared to stop at absolutely nothing. At least that’s how Sveta sees it. The young mother is anxious about her family’s well-being, about the mortgage she can’t pay off and about her job, which she is at risk of losing to a co-worker with less experience. She can’t get her head around the fact that her husband can sleep peacefully at night, while it seems her whole life may soon run off the rails. No matter what happens – Sveta will do whatever it takes to keep her family from landing on the street and her two kids from having to grow up in a home.
Director Zhanna Issabayeva paints the portrait of a woman caught up in a desperate struggle, breaking with the image of physically challenged individuals as victims by depicting her protagonist Sveta (played by deaf actress Laura Koroleva) as a person willing to commit violence who takes revenge on society while stoking a fiery inner rage.