Vitamin Deficiency

Kyrgyzstan, 2000. 21 min. Color. BETACAM
In Russian, English subtitles
Director and scriptwriter: Natalia Rakhmadieva
Rights to the film: UNICEF
Camera: Almaz Umuraliev

Rakhmadieva records the autobiographical confessions of two Kyrgyz youths' premature and frightening loss of innocence; not their lives, but, rather, their stories are documented. The film, constructed of two monologues—each adolescent tells her/his own story—is unified not only by the shared horrific themes of each narrator's account, but also by the relationship between the narrators—they are dating each other. Though willing to share their personal narratives with the camera, both of the teenagers express fear at admitting the truth of their pasts to the other. The result, therefore, is the realization that while tragic and abusive childhoods among contemporary Kyrgyz youth are not rare, the willingness to speak about such topics is.

Director

Natalia Rakhmadieva is currently a student at a Technical University.