A documentary about jailed punk band Pussy Riot, who became a household name after their controversial act at Russia’s main cathedral, ‘Pussy Riot—A Punk Prayer’ has won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award in America.
The Russian and British co-production, directed by Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin, was screened at the Sundance Film Festival, competing against 11 other titles.
The three members of the feminist punk group were arrested after they stormed Christ the Savior Cathedral, in February 2012, and performed a profanity-laden ‘punk prayer.’ The trio was sentenced to two years each in a medium-security prison for hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.
The women insisted they never intended to offend people’s religious sensibilities. One of members was released on probation after successfully appealing her conviction.
“I think that one of the things that interested us is why those 40 seconds – what they did when they went into the cathedral – why it became such a perfect storm of everything,” one of the film’s creators, Maxim Pozdorovkin, told The Hollywood Reporter.
