Black Snow
Alina Simone / United States / 2024 / World Premiere / 100 min
A Siberian mother-of-three finds herself under the aggressive scrutiny of the Russian authorities when she steps up as a citizen journalist and uncovers a huge coal scandal. A revealing journalistic thriller with deep personal consequences.
When the residents of a remote Siberian coal mining town discover that an abandoned mine has caught fire and toxic gas is pouring into their homes, they turn to independent journalist Natalia Zubkova for help. But when her news coverage of the coal fire goes viral, the government launches a massive effort to cover up the truth. In the shadow of an increasingly authoritarian government, Natalia embarks on a perilous journey to uncover the full extent of the environmental disaster unfolding in her midst. With filmmaker Alina Simone by her side, the journalistic thriller ‘Black Snow’ documents not only the coal scandal over four turbulent years, but also the equally dirty tactics of Russia’s modern surveillance state – not to mention the human cost of having the courage to come forward and draw the attention of the authorities at a time when Russia is closing in on itself.