Muzzled by the increasingly autocratic regime of the “depression Federation”, 16-year- old Marusya decides to join her generations’ suicide statistics by year’s end. Then she meets Kimi and an unexpected love story begins between the two millennials caught in the undertow of their oppressive government.

Together, Marusya and Kimi film the euphoria, anxiety and despair of their youth, burning the candle at both ends fuelled by drugs and music. When Kimi’s addiction threatens to make him fade away forever, Marusya’s camera becomes her last chance to save some part of his fragile soul.

Filmed over the course of 12 years, HOW TO SAVE A FRIEND FROM DYING is a personal cry from the heart, and a message from a silenced generation. It is an unbreakable love story existing in a destructible world.

Dir. Marusya Syroechkovskaya - 104min - 2022 - Sweden, Norway. France, Germany

"we recognize How to Save a Dead Friend as a truly exceptional film. Marusya Syroechkovskaya’s first-person tale of punk love in Putin’s Russia shines an urgent spotlight on a forsaken generation condemned to a seemingly endless cycle of drug addiction, mental health crisis, and suicide by the repressive structures of the regime." - DOC NYC, **Winner**, Grand Jury Award, International Competition.

"Composed of personal footage shot over a decade, Syroechkovskaya’s moving documentary is both a hymn to a troubled soul and a portrait of a lost generation." - Guardian

"One of the boldest films of the year reveals to us the invisible Russia of its cheerful sad boys" - Marie Claire

"A cry from the heart, a tribute to an entire generation reduced to silence." - Visions du Reel, **Special Mention**, International Competition

"This documentary memoir cum love letter is moving, harrowing and, despite everything, hopeful; above all, it is fearsomely candid.” - Screendaily

“Coming from the inside, and from a generation Putin is seeking to silence and then refashion to his imperialist image, How to Save A Dead Friend […] is essential viewing for those seeking an intimate understanding of Russian society from within.” - The Film Verdict