The Student

(M)uchenik

This Cannes Film Festival award-winning feature follows a young man whose growing religious fervor spills into the public sphere.

When Venya refuses to participate in mixed swimming lessons because it is "against his religion," his mother blames shyness. Exempted by the school's devout principal, Venya grows increasingly certain that his strict, rigorous Bible studies give allows him to manipulate all forms of authority. Challenged by a teacher over his dogma, he sets out to eliminate her and subdue an entire community.

Winner of the Francois Chalais Award at Cannes Film Festival. Winner of Best Supporting Actress and Best Composer and nominated for Best Film at the Russian Guild of Film Critics. Selected as Best Film for the Year of Russian Cinema, a government funded event in 2016.

"Kirill Serebrennikov's study of a problem teenager's religious awakening is as aesthetically kinetic as it is intellectually rigorous." - Guy Lodge, Variety

"A serious, sharply mounted drama that gets more engrossing as it moves along." - Godfrey Cheshire, RogerEbert.com