CPH:DOX 2025 - Abode of Dawn / SONNENSTADT

In the wild 90s after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a slew of Christian preachers emerged, all proclaiming themselves the Son of God. One of them was a traffic cop and painter who took the name Vissarion. In 1995, he founded One Family in the far reaches of Siberia. Here he still lives with his faithful disciples, in a utopian parallel society in harmony with nature and the guidelines he sets out. And here Kristina Shtubert has followed his disciples for 10 years in her sensational debut.

We meet the young German woman who married a short-tempered Russian man she never loved. The teenage girl who leaves the village for the city where she ends up in a severe drug addiction. The older woman who blindly follows Vissarion's every word. And in an unforgettable scene, we finally meet the man himself.

Without judgement, Shtubert depicts life in the tajga. From the budding green gardens and playful children, to the white-clad ceremonies with round, shapely sacrificial bread, until three helicopters arrive and transform the tranquil wilderness community into an action film.