Nikita Parkhomenko

The radical new take on Dickens’ classic seeks both to exhume the original story’s gritty commentary on social inequality and the corrupting influence of greed, and to breathe new life into the lyricism of the original text by setting its scenes to extraordinary tableaux of modern dance.

In one continuous shot, SHTTL shows the lives, loves, and inner conflicts within a Yiddish speaking shtetl on the border between Ukraine and Poland - one day before the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.

Irina, a small-town nurse, has a heart defect. According to the doctors' prognosis, her heart has not much time left to beat, and there is no one to take care of her six-year-old daughter Anna. Irina feverishly tries to find a way out and she gets the idea that Anya could be brought up by her grandfather - the father of the young man who left Irina pregnant. All she knows about her daughter's grandfather, Igor Vasilyevich Kutepov, is that he is a rather successful businessman and 63 years old.

The story revolves around the hatred between two step sisters, Nadya & Irina, who are in love with the same man, Igor. Blinded by jealousy and hatred towards Nadya, Irina frames her in a murder and separates her from Igor. However, Nadya returns to expose Irina and win back her love and respect.