Ayka

Ayka is a migrant who came to Moscow from Kyrgyzstan. The film opens just after she has given birth; she leaves the baby at the hospital and climbs out a window. No reason is given; she has debts, no work, nowhere to stay and no means whatever of caring for a child. The days that follow revolve around one thing: finding money. Meanwhile her body has not recovered from the birth and will not stop bleeding. Sergei Dvortsevoy's film took six years, with the script still being written while shooting continued. It was shot in real Moscow blizzards; the camera never leaves Ayka and the city exists only as a roar behind her. Samal Yeslyamova plays Ayka and won Best Actress at the Cannes Film Festival in 2018. The film competed for the Palme d'Or. Who it's for: Viewers who like social realism, narratives about migrant labour, and who can take a demanding watch. Who it's not for: There is no relief anywhere in it and the bodily imagery is explicit. No hope is offered; the narrative is deliberately without resolution.