When a prominent lesbian couple adopts a child diagnosed with a genetic predisposition for violence, they must contend with their hard-lined stance on acceptance while attempting to raise the perfect family in the spotlight.
THE PLAYROOM unfolds like a dream wrapped around a family drama: four children in their attic hideaway make up a fantastic story, while downstairs their parents weave a drunken intrigue of their own. In a lyrical but gripping dual narrative, the story of the children’s life intertwines with the story they make up about their life–until the two stories collide and the delicate family structure collapses.
The action plays out through the eyes of Maggie Cantwell, a tempestuous teenager who turns reality into a game and make-believe into a life-or-death undertaking. But Maggie is getting too old to believe in the tales she spins for the younger children. Before the night is over, she must confront the truth and make a terrible choice.
Emotionally riveting and surprisingly funny, THE PLAYROOM is the story of how Maggie and her siblings survive the most fateful night of their lives.
Konstantin Gudauskas is a Jew born in Kazakhstan, but received political asylum in Ukraine.
After the Russian invasion begins on 24 February 2022, he is able to travel freely to the occupied territories and evacuate civilians from there thanks to his Kazakh passport. During the next months he saves 203 people by taking them out of the occupied territories. Konstantin observes firsthand the horrors of war and the atrocities of the Russian occupation. Throughout this time he is advised and guided by a woman, Haide Rizaeva, a Crimean Tatar, employee of the Main Intelligence Directorate.
Yura, working at a local nature museum, looking for a rare species, witnesses an arson in the forest. He brings the photos to a local newspaper, and gets a job there. With his new profession it dawns to him that the reality around him is a far cry from what is written in the newspaper.