The New Greatness Case

One moment she’s sitting at the kitchen table playing a game with her mother, the next she’s in a courtroom, trembling in a glassed-in box. The life of Russian teenager Anya changed overnight, in March 2018. Along with nine other young people, she was arrested on suspicion of forming an extremist group with plans to overthrow the government.

With an unembellished style, and a sparse commentary that connects the dots, The New Greatness Case—winner of the IDFA Forum Award for Best Rough Cut in 2021—dissects how these ordinary youths with modest dreams for the future were cunningly lured into a trap by the Russian security service.

At the same time, the film is a compelling portrait of Julia, Anya’s mother, whose life is turned completely upside down by her daughter’s arrest. Reluctantly, she transforms herself into an activist, fighting a political system that will use any means necessary to nip even the slightest dissidence in the bud.