Happiness to All

Vitaly, a physicist and record holder in extreme hardening, makes his living as a bricklayer and lives below the poverty line. While his parents, prominent scientists, reminisce about the glory of the regime they willingly built, the avowed patriot from Novosibirsk is gradually changing his mind about Putin's Russia. He rejects its capitalist nature and continues, as a radicalised blogger, to advocate the establishment of a more just regime. This intergenerational clash is typical of the countries of the former Soviet bloc. While the older generation remembers the certainties and advantages of the past regime, the younger one is hopelessly mired in a crisis of authority, rejecting past and present political representation and resorting to extreme views. To the extreme, like everything else in his life, Vitaly is experiencing his political awakening as the son of elites relegated to the social periphery after the collapse of the empire. This time-lapse character study, filmed between 2016 and 2024, depicts how long-term frustration and disillusionment leads entire generations and social classes to gravitate towards radical solutions and vote for authoritarian leaders like Putin, Trump or Le Pen.

The film won two main prizes at the 28th Jihlava IDFF. The main prize for the Central and Eastern European film Opus Bonum and the Special Mention in the Czech Joy section.