A Bride of the Seventh Heaven

A lonely old woman recounts her life to a blind girl, whose name—Ilne—means ‘giver of life’. The screenplay of the duo’s second fiction film was inspired by Lapsui’s childhood experience of losing her sight for two years while she was forced to go to school. She befriended an elderly woman at the time. This film is also an homage to the great oral tradition of the Nenets people, who didn’t have a writing system, but always gathered together in the evening to tell stories. “This film is a tribute to the women who, for one reason or another, have been given to the Num god as brides”, say the directors.