Alisa leaves Moscow for St. Petersburg, hoping to escape her loneliness. But her quest for love and happiness, coupled with a dangerous, intense connection with her troubled neighbors, threatens to destroy everything she knows. Can she emerge from her own wrecked life and emerge as someone new? This tale of drugs, sex, crime and hipster cool in postcommunist Russia is set against one of the most eye-popping and innovative backdrops in contemporary cinema, the latest visually stunning effort from a Russian cinema in full renaissance. First-time director Igor Voloshin brings his powerful cinematic vision to NIRVANA, a gritty yet brightly colored punk drama that showcases both amazing design—the high-contrast, neonlike sets and costumes are like nothing you've seen before—and insights into the existential crises that seem to echo modern Russia's plight. "Our characters look genuinely extravagant," Voloshin has written. "It’s the result of spiritual emptiness." This ingenious, carefully crafted film offers an exciting window into emergent Russian cultural forms. –Lane Kneedler