Main Cast: Mariya Shalayeva, Evgeniy Tsyganov, Mariya Sokova

Loosely based on Hans Christian Anderson’s fairytale, Anna Melikyan burst on the scene with this coming-of-age picture in 2007 which won her Best Director at the Sundance Film Festival. The main character, Alisa lives partially in an imaginary world and partially in the real world where she believes that she can make her wishes magically come true. She must reconcile this belief with reality when, as a young woman, she journeys to Moscow and grapples with love, modernity and materialism. This modern variation on the fairytale is a fanastic piece of film-making and features a strikingly pursuasive performance from Masha Shalaeva in the title role.