A group of armed militants took nearly one thousand hostages at the Dubrovka Theatre Centre in Moscow on 23 October 2002. In exchange for their lives, the terrorists demanded an immediate cessation of hostilities in Chechnya and the withdrawal of Russian troops from the republic. After almost three days, law enforcers carried out the rescue operation, during which 130 hostages were killed. Natalia comes to Moscow from her quiet monastic life for a memorial evening of the tragedy. At the time, she fled through a window but lost her son. Her husband and daughter perceived this as a betrayal. She went to the monastery. Will it be possible to reconcile with past trauma?

The director focuses on the universal fear of people and studies post-traumatic stress disorder. The former hostages must go again through the harsh emotional experience. With a hope that their wounds could be healed.

Jury statement: Tackling the complicated issues of memory, fear and guilt in a very precise and restricted fashion, it manages to strike an impressive balance between its perfectionistic aesthetics and portraiture of characters that are fundamentally human in their moral imperfection.