The film uncovers Russia’s drug pandemics — a generation of teenagers is addicted to powerful synthetic stimulant, mephedrone, which is Russia’s most widely used illegal drug. The story is told from the perspective of one of the most underreported communities — teenagers from low-income families who have been involved in criminal activities since underage.
We have gained unique access to this world — for over a year we have followed the lives of 18-year old Maxim, who has been involved into drug trafficking since 13, and 18-year old Olga who has been an addict since 14. These contributors raised the issue of sexualised violence against minors, teenage addiction and lack of institutionalised help for most vulnerable groups.
Having maintained closed contact with Olya and Maxim we have been able to create a portrait of Maxim as a struggling teenager, who got lured into drug trafficking and probably had died in Ukraine after being convicted and of Olya, who let us into the community of drug users, showing the horrible reality of addiction that was relevant to audiences across the world.
Their stories are told from a very personal perspective, appealing to other teenagers This is achieved largely through user-generated content. Both Olya and Maxim kept video diaries — for them, as for many teenagers struggling with addiction, this was the only way to express their pain to the outside world.
We carefully researched, archived, and incorporated into the film Olya’s video diaries which she kept over several years to document her journey: from a 14-year-old girl drawn into drug-fueled sexual exploitation, to an attempt at rehabilitation, and then a relapse.
The same was done with Maxim: he partially lost his archives after he was arrested, but we restored what we could and included them in the film. His diaries had both personal and the investigative value: why and how does a teenager set up a drug lab? Where does he order the precursors? When Maxim was briefly released from custody, we specifically asked him to continue keeping a video diary — and these turned out to be his last documented days of freedom. Shortly after his sentence was pronounced, he decided to go fight in Ukraine and died there.
All of this helped us tell the story of the teenage drug epidemic in a way that would be relevant to young audiences worldwide —specifically, teenagers who are vulnerable to drug trafficking and use.
The film also demonstrates exceptional depth of research and analysis. In the investigative part the team managed to infiltrate communication of drug dealers and wholesalers and have been able to establish how the chemicals the drugs are made of are smuggled to Russia.
In Russia drugs are bought and sold online hence all the communication happens online, and having infiltrated the darknet world of criminals and gathered information there we used graphics to recreate and show the audience this world which organized crime is trying to hide but which still exists just next door.
