- year : 2018
- country : Russia, Australia
- timing : 21:26'
- genre : documentary
- producer : Alena Alenkina
written by Vlada Zhukovskaya
produced by Andrey Zlobin, Alena Alenkina, Deanna Blegg
DoPs Anastasiya Ivanova, Alena Alenkina
sound by Yuliya Shirokova
editor Alexandra Karelina
Stigma - from Greek stigma – mark, puncture; in German - stigma; in Russian - стигма.
A stigma is a mark of disgrace associated with a particular circumstance, quality, or person. It is a set of negative and often unfair beliefs that a society or group of people have about something, a strong feeling of disapproval that most people in a society have about non-conformity.
Five out of six characters have arrived to the city of Kazan in May 2017 to overcome their fears and for the first time to talk openly about their HIV-positive status by participating in a Marathon dressed in the special “Open Faces” uniform. The sixth one, a beautiful Deanna, had flown from Australia with her 70-year old mother to run the Marathon together. It has been her job to talk about her disease on a daily basis for years. Deanna is and has been a role model for tens of thousands HIV positive people all over the world. One of them, Sean from USA has been carefully preparing himself for this coming out. Seamsumerlin is confident that it’s highly unlikely his parents in their Indonesian village will ever find out about him participating in “The Open Faces” team in the faraway city of Kazan. The only concern Zhandos, a young doctor from Kazakhstan, has that the news about his HIV-positive status will have a negative impact on his mother…
There was another runner who was not brave enough to open her face yet. Six incredible stories with a common thread.
- International Film Festival "Eight Women", Diploma of Jury (2018, Russia, Moscow)
- We Care Film Festival (2018, India, New Delhi)
- International Festival of Detective Films and Television Programs on Law-Enforcement Themes "Detective FEST" (2018, Russia, Moscow)
- International Film Forum "Golden Knight" (2018, Russia, Sevastopol)
- Sport Film Festival (2018, Italy, Palermo)
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:
Alena Alenkina was born on 11.05.1974 in Berezniki (Perm region), Russia. In 2016 graduated from Moscow School of New Cinema as a film director.
FILMOGRAPHY:
2017 - "Not My Story", documentary
2017 - "Alexithymia", short student film \ debut
