MARIA (18+)

Russia, 2025, color, 79 min.

Director: Valeria Gai Germanika

SCREENPLAY – Valeria Gai Germanika

DoP – Valeria Gai Germanika

PRODUCER – Valeria Gai Germanika

What happens when the boundaries between observer and subject begin to dissolve? When love arrives not as an idealized fantasy but in the form of a homeless, alcoholic, wounded man abandoned by the world?

What began as a documentary about volunteers helping people experiencing homelessness unexpectedly transforms into the chronicle of an impossible love. The film's producer falls in love with Edik, a homeless man who becomes its central character. The camera captures not only a social drama but also an inner transformation – and the price it demands.

This is not a film about homelessness or volunteer work. It is a film about the boundaries that collapse when we finally begin to recognize one another's humanity.

AWARDS:

Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF) – Special Mention of the Jury in the Documentary Competition.

Valeria Gai Germanika

Born in Moscow in 1984. She is a documentary and fiction filmmaker and a member of the Russian Filmmakers' Union Guild.

In 2008, she graduated from the Internews School of Film and Television (Marina Razbezhkina's workshop). Her work has received awards at major international film festivals, including the Cannes Film Festival, the Moscow International Film Festival, the Kinotavr Open Russian Film Festival, and the Nika Awards of the Russian Academy of Cinema Arts.

Filmography

Girls, 2005

Sisters, 2005

Gone, 2006

Infanta's Birthday, 2007

Dad, 2021

Emelianenko, 2021

Maria, 2025