Right outside of Moscow – home to the highest number of billionaires pr. capita – you’ll find the largest junkyard in the world: The Svalka. It’s a hard place run by the Russian mafia. And it's where Yula lives with her mother, her friends and many other people. Life is tough in the Svalka, but it’s also a place where beauty and humanity can arise from the most unlikely conditions. It is from this place that Yula dreams of escaping and changing her life, even if it seems impossible. Oscar-nominated director Hanna Polak followed Yula for 14 years, bringing us along on Yula's journey to achieve this dream.
Directed by Hanna Polak
garbage
poverty
garbage dump
moscow, russia
woman director
Trailer
IMDB
N/A
Letterboxd
3.8 / 5
Crew
Hanna Polak
Director
Hanna Polak
Writer
Hanna Polak
Editor
Hanna Polak
Director of Photography
Phie Ambo
Executive Producer
Sigrid Dyekjær
Executive Producer
Hanna Polak
Producer
Sigrid Dyekjær
Producer
Izabela Łopuch
Producer
Steven Okazaki
Additional Editing
Jacob Thuesen
Additional Editing
Kristian Eidnes Andersen
Sound
Popular Reviews
7 reviews
gabi
9.0★ · 02/26/26
"I'd like to hope for the best but it never happens. Only bad things happen and they get worse and worse. Maybe it works backwards. You should hope for the worst, then everything will turn out fine."
"I'd like to hope for the best but it never happens. Only bad things happen and they get worse and worse. Maybe it works backwards. You should hope for the worst, then everything will turn out fine."
