Pelym

Pelym

Pelym is on the northern edge of the Urals, on the divide between Europe and Asia. With its 400-year-old history of banishment and enforced labour, Pelym is just one example of the many remote penal colonies in Russia. The documentary Pelym is a cautious encounter with this world.

It recounts the present-day life of the penal camps in episodic form, reveals in long, calm takes both the camp life - roll call, work, sauna, canteen - as well as the everyday life of former inmates who have settled in the villages dotted around the camps. The people living here seem like from a long bygone age. Their dramatic stories are recounted in a discreet and yet gripping way. Their faces have a profundity one could sink into.

Source: German films Service & Marketing GmbH