Russia has selected Kira Kovlaneko’s Unclenching the Fists as its Official Submission for Best International Feature Film for the 94th Academy Awards. Unclenching the Fists had its World Premiere at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prize in Un Certain Regard.

Ada is stuck. Living in a dead-end industrial town in the North Ossetia section of Russia, she is a young woman caught in the grip of the men in her life. But when her older brother returns home and her domineering father suddenly falls ill, Ada finally sees a possible path to freedom. A defiant, bracing tale about the universal struggle to break free, Unclenching the Fists announces the arrival of major talents in star Milana Aguzarova and writer-director Kira Kovalenko, a former student of Alexander Sokurov (Russian Ark).

Watch the official teaser trailer for Unclenching the Fists