Director
Alina Simone
Producer
Kirstine Barfod
Development support
When residents of a remote Siberian city discover an abandoned coal mine has caught fire beneath their neighborhood, pushing toxic gas into their homes, they turn to homemaker-turned-journalist Natalia Zubkova for help. But after her independent news coverage goes viral, they suddenly find themselves the targets of a massive government disinformation campaign, forcing Natalia to embark on a dangerous and revelatory quest to reveal the full extent of the environmental catastrophe unfolding in their midst.
Told over the course of two years, this taut and revelatory thriller charts Natalia’s tumultuous journey covering one of Russia's most dangerous beats, shining new light on the human cost of coal.