Please join the Harriman Institute for a screening of Unclenching the Fists by Kira Kovalenko. Hailing from Aleksandr Sokurov’s experimental class in Nalchik, Kovalenko received a special prize at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival for her coming of age drama set in a small town in North Ossetia. Spotlighting female experience in the North Caucasus in the aftermath of the Beslan experience, the film questions the reach and ramifications of imperial and patriarchal power. Unclenching the Fists tells the story of a young woman who struggles to escape the stifling hold of the family she both loves and rejects. When her older brother returns home and her father suddenly falls ill, Ada finally sees a possible path to freedom.
