When three women of Russian feminist punk band Pussy Riot entered a
Moscow church to perform a "punk prayer" in February of last year,
little did they think their actions would land them behind bars and
capture the world's attention.
A new
documentary, "Pussy Riot - A Punk Prayer," which premiered at the
Sundance Film Festival this week, follows the band members and their
families as they struggle through the legal system in Russia.
The documentary tells the story of three women – Nadezhda
Tolokonnikova, 22, Maria Alyokhina, 24, and Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30 –
who as members of the feminist art collective Pussy Riot performed a
40-second "punk prayer" inside Russia's main cathedral on February 21,
2012.
Pussy Riot took on two powerful state
institutions at once – the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian
government – when they burst into Moscow's golden-domed Christ the
Savior Cathedral wearing bright ski masks, tights and colorful dresses
to protest against President Vladimir Putin's close ties with the
Church.
This performance led to their arrest on
charges of religious hatred and culminated in a trial that reverberated
around the world.
After a trial that was shown
live on television, a judge ruled the three women had "committed an act
of hooliganism, a gross violation of public order showing obvious
disrespect for society."
The court found all
three women guilty and sentenced them to two years in prison.
Samutsevich later had her punishment converted to a suspended sentence.
"It was such a big soap opera in Russia," documentary co-director Maxim Pozdorovkin told Reuters.
"In Russia there is a national sort of sense that a lot of people
believe that the girls got more or less what they deserved," he said.
The case became one of Russia's most high-profile trials since the
Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. It ignited comments from Madonna, Sting
and Paul McCartney.
"Whereas in the West it was
understood to be mostly a political human rights story, in Russia it was
understood almost exclusively as a religious hooliganism, religious
hatred story," Pozdorovkin said.
"In reality the
story is so much bigger and so much richer and so epic, and I don't use
that word lightly. . .[that] while people still have this awareness of
the story, we wanted to make a thought provoking film about it."
Pozdorovkin and co-director Mike Lerner, who started following the band
around the time of their arrest, said that other documentaries and
shows following the story had vilified the three women and that they
were "victims of quite aggressive Russian television interviews and
programs."
They wanted to make a film that went
behind the news story of the three women and their trial, exploring
through interviews their backgrounds and motivations to act as they did
in the church.
"Various shows [were] made about
the girls that were obviously quite negative, so they were very wary.
But I think they quite realized a proper film that explored who they
were and what their motivation was, was a good idea. . .their
contribution is vital to understanding who these women are," said
Lerner.
The US television rights were purchased by HBO during the festival. – Reuters
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