Bless You

The still unfinished chapter of coping with the epidemic of covid-19 disease is reflected in a documentary composed of audio recordings of emergency calls and footage of the depopulated streets of St. Petersburg. The bleakness of the situation can be felt in the testimonies of pensioners, for whom basic services such as buying food or health care were often unavailable in the imposed isolation. The gaps in awareness of essential matters among both emergency line staff and citizens reveal much about the collapsing social infrastructure of the Russian state that neglects its duties and helps people only by distributing boxes of essential food, for example, porridge for children. (Ji.hlava International Documentary Film Festival)