

55 minSeason 1 • Episode 8
LatestLate 1920s. Solovki. The ancient monastery, lingonberry woods, picturesque lakes and freezing cold, hunger, pain and sufferings of people in the Solovetsky concentration camp. A passionate love story between a prisoner Artyom and a Cheka officer Galina unfolds in a place where everybody is striving to survive at any cost. Their love is hopeless, dangerous and doomed to be tragical.
Cinematography
Sacred monastery beauty collides with human degradation.
Direction
Veledinsky makes frostbite feel almost romantic.
Acting
Prisoner and tormentor: chemistry that shouldn't exist.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Solovki was the USSR's first concentration camp, operating 1923-1939 in a former Orthodox monastery — the Soviets deliberately desecrated sacred ground.
Veledinsky filmed on location; the preserved monastery complex now hosts memorials to both religious martyrs and political prisoners.