BFI London Film Festival: Something Better to Come

BFI London Film Festival: 238 films. From 71 countries. 16 cinemas. 12 days. One Festival.

Yula is ten years of age when we first encounter her. She’s a blonde, elfin and mischievous kid who runs around playing with her friends – like kids her age do. The difference between Yula and other children is that she was born and raised in one of Europe’s biggest landfills, on the outskirts of Moscow. Director Hanna Polak spent 14 years filming Yula and some of the inhabitants of the dump, capturing glimpses of humanity and extraordinary resilience whilst witnessing a life blooming in the bleakest of conditions. Yula is funny and witty, whether she’s rummaging for make-up and clothes, looking for food for dinner or pieces of metal to consolidate her shack.

Winner of the Special Jury Award at Amsterdam’s IDFA, Something Better To Come is a sensitive but unflinching tale of survival and a harrowing portrait of a community of forgotten souls in today’s Russia.

(Notes by Laure Bonville)

Something Better to Come, dir. Hanna Polak, Denmark-Poland 2014, 98 mins.