Innere Emigranten

In the organizer's words:

INNER EMIGRANTS

Special screening on 17.5., 11:00 am, Gloria

D/F 2026 | Director: Lena Karbe | 93 min.
Documentary film

Three volunteer psychologists from a Moscow crisis hotline have been providing voluntary telephone services since the beginning of the war of aggression in Ukraine. The effects of Russian propaganda on their own population become particularly tangible during their work. The psychologists have to find a way between professional responsibility and the far-reaching restrictions on freedom of expression. In the grueling balancing act between the needs of those seeking help and their own mental health, the risk of becoming complicit in the totalitarian system becomes apparent.

What does "neutrality" mean? Where should the boundaries be drawn? And how do psychologists set these boundaries as they strive to protect their professional integrity, personal safety and psyche?

INNER EMIGRANTS observes the inevitable, creeping drift into complicity. Lena Karbe's documentary was made over three years under the strictest secrecy. It is a collective psychogram of Russian society and a reminder of the destructive power of an authoritarian regime for civil society.