The Term

In May 2012, Vladimir Putin started his third term as Russian president. A growing number of citizens called for him to go and there was a feeling that a political shift was possible – even close. Convinced that history was being written, three filmmakers decided to record the sociopolitical landscape of the moment. They placed brief reportages online every day as an alternative source of information. One major condition was that the viewer had to be able to draw his own conclusions. is both a result and the conclusion of this much-debated project, for which there is no tolerance in today’s Russia. While the online bulletins covered a wide variety of topics, the film focuses on the opposition leaders, who are closely followed. From the start, an infectious call for freedom and change flies off the screen. Main characters include the women of Pussy Riot, the lawyer and potential presidential candidate Alexei Navalny, the liberal activist Ilja Yashin and his wealthy girlfriend and TV personality Ksenia Sobchak, reputed to be Putin’s godchild. They steadfastly struggle against injustice – protesting against the Kremlin becomes their principal reason for living. Told in a neutral tone, their stories are interspersed with heavily-biased footage from Russian state TV.