Country of the Deaf

Country of the Deaf (Страна глухих) is a 1998 Russian crime film directed by Valery Todorovsky, loosely based on Renata Litvinova's novel To Own and Belong. The film set in a fictional underworld of deaf-mute people in Moscow. The film was entered into the 48th Berlin International Film Festival.

Plot
The action takes place in Moscow in the 1990s. The heroine of the film – Rita – is forced into hiding; her friend Alyosha has disappeared after losing someone else's money in a game of roulette. She is rescued and hidden by Yaya, a deaf nightclub dancer, who lives only for one thing – to save money and go to some fabulous "country of the deaf," where only deaf people live, and virtue and justice reign. Suddenly, the girls find themselves in the center of a violent clash between two mafia clans – one hearing and one deaf.

Cast

 * Chulpan Khamatova as Rita
 * Dina Korzun as Yaya
 * Maksim Sukhanov as Svinya
 * Nikita Tyunin as Alyosha (voiced by Sergei Bezrukov)
 * Aleksandr Yatsko as The Albino
 * Alexey Gorbunov as Landlord
 * Pavel Pajmalov as Mao
 * Sergey Yushkevich as Nuna
 * Alexey Diakov as Molodoy
 * Yaroslav Boyko as bandit

Awards
At the 1998 Russian Guild of Film Critics Awards the film was awarded the prizes for Best Film, Best Music (Alexey Aygi), Best Female Actor (Dina Korzun), Best Supporting Actor (Maksim Sukhanov). At the Nika Award the film received the prizes for Best Female Actor (Dina Korzun) and Best Sound Design (Gleb Kravetsky).