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Logline

In-depth immersion into the Russian prison repressive machinery shot from the subjective perspective of a human rights activist, working undercover to confront the totalitarian system from within.

Synopsis

Not So Far Away Places is a Russian euphemism for prison. From 2016 to 2022, a lawyer and human rights activist entered SIZO pre-trial detention centres — overcrowded, freezing spaces where the accused await judgment, cut off from family and exposed to violence and systemic abuse.

A member of Memorial, the Nobel Peace Prize–winning human rights organisation, she was officially employed as Lead Analyst at the Federal Penitentiary Service. In practice, she used this position to gather evidence, navigate a rigid bureaucracy and help prisoners hold on to dignity within a system designed to break them.

Filming discreetly with a chest camera, she documented hunger strikes, solitary confinement, denial of legal access, religious repression, and suspicious beatings. Complaints were dangerous; silence was enforced through fear. Each night, she backed up her footage, building an archive she hoped might one day serve as evidence — if change ever became possible.

Combining exclusive first-person images from inside Russian prisons with observational scenes, the film offers a rare, direct view of a system built on control and intimidation, revealing how everyday routines and ordinary officials sustain a machinery of repression. A portrait of the banality of evil at work inside the Russian prison system.

Meet the Filmmakers

Renato Borrayo Serrano — Codirector
Berlin-based documentary filmmaker telling intimate human stories while exploring how individual lives are shaped by wider struggles over power, justice, and dignity. His films have screened and won awards at major international festivals, including CPH:DOX, Hot Docs, Sundance, DOC NYC, Krakow IFF, Shanghai IFF, DOK Leipzig, Docudays UA, and others. His feature documentary Life of Ivanna (2021) won the Zurich Film Festival’s Grand Prix for Best Documentary, alongside numerous additional awards. As a cinematographer, he worked on the Netflix acquisition Skywalkers: A Love Story, which premiered at Sundance (U.S. Documentary Competition) and screened at Tribeca before receiving an IMAX theatrical release in the United States. His work has also been broadcast by BBC The Why, SVT (Sweden), RÚV (Iceland), PTS (Taiwan), and Current Time TV (Czech Republic), among others. His projects have been supported by leading European public and private funders, including Spain’s ICAA, the Norwegian Film Fund, the Estonian Film Institute, the Kone Foundation, and Fritt Ord.

Nancy Irene Kelly — Original Playwright & Co-Writer
Nancy Kelly is an award-winning playwright and educator whose work explores identity, justice, and emotional depth. Her play Backyard/Desert premiered in NYC and is now adapted for film, co-written with director Ethan Felizzari-Castillo. A Dramatists Guild member with degrees from Sarah Lawrence and UC Berkeley, she has created critically praised solo works and digital theater projects like Medea in Quarantine.

Yulia Vishnevets — Codirector
Berlin-based journalist and documentary filmmaker, director of over 20 non-fiction films. She has worked as a reporter and photographer in various media. From 2013 to 2014, she reported for Deutsche Welle in Germany. Since 2015, she has been a staff documentary maker for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Current Time TV in Russia. Her feature: Hey! Teachers! was screened at IDFA, Krakow, and received several international accolades. In September 2022, she was detained while filming an anti-war demonstration in Dagestan, spent 5 days in prison, and had to leave Russia at risk of further criminal prosecution.

Milana Christich — Producer – ANA Films
Producer at ANA Films in Strasbourg, Milana has produced dozens of films and co-produced with channels such as Arte/ZDF, France 3 Alsace, Alsace 20, Mosaïk, Vosges Télévision, KTO, France Ô. She also worked with Ciclic and the Bip TV channel in 2021 on Robin Hunzinger’s film Ultraviolette et le Gang des cracheuses de sang (Ultraviolette and the Blood Spitters Gang), which was nominated for the IDFA.

Albin Bourgeois — Coproducer – Contretemps
Albin is a French producer and founder of Contretemps, actively involved in international co-productions. He develops documentaries for both cinema and television. He is also a member of Eurodoc and an alumnus of three leading European film schools: La Fémis (Paris), Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg (Germany) and the National Film and Television School (London).

Vlad Ketkovich — Line Producer
A producer originally from Russia, Vlad is a graduate of several European producer workshops, including EuroDoc, Ex-Oriente, Documentary Campus Masterschool and EAVE (2017). He has produced and co-produced more than 30 films with various European countries. The films have been screened and awarded at numerous major festivals, including IDFA, CPH:DOX, HotDocs, Zurich, EL Gouna, Krakow, DokLeipzig, DocAviv, Shanghai, and have been broadcast on ARTE, ZDF, WDR, BBC, MDR, ORF, YLE, SVT, VPRO, Czech TV, and The Guardian. He left Russia shortly after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in 2022 and settled in Paris, where he was granted political asylum and now works as a production manager.

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Contact

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