Grey Violet - silmätikku

A person with angel wings enters a supermarket, sets up ladder and rope in the lighting department, and is hanged by two comrades. This strange scene takes place in Moscow, where the provocative street-art group Voina has carried out numerous performance art pieces. The winged character is Grey Violet, a mathematician by profession and a queer activist at heart, who prefers the pronoun ze and whose hanging act was strictly condemned by President Putin himself. In ultra-conservative Russia, where taking part in gay pride or a protest in favour of Pussy Riot is enough to get beaten, ze has become the victim of police persecution and far-right fundamentalism. Invited to a mathematics conference in Finland, ze decides not to return home. With a compelling narration by Grey Violet's mother, Reetta Aalto's documentary follows the asylum process and offers a unique perspective on dissidence and queerness in the face of authoritarianism. (Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival)