Director Darya Zhuk Prepares Dystopian Sci-Fi Drama ‘Exactly What It Seems’

Belarus-born director Darya Zhuk is set to follow her debut feature, “Crystal Swan,” with a new project titled “Exactly What It Seems.” This film will be a dark science fiction satire addressing contemporary authoritarianism.

The movie, produced by Allfilm’s Volia Chajkouskaya, Ivo Felt from Estonia, and Violetta Krechetova, is based on an original short story by Tatsiana Zamirovskaya, who also serves as a co-writer. It will feature dialogue in Belarusian, English, and Russian.

Allfilm, co-founded by Felt, has a track record of producing acclaimed films, including the Oscar-nominated “Tangerines” and the Golden Globe-nominated “The Fencer” by Klaus Härö.

In “Exactly What It Seems,” a married couple, Nadia and Fedor, seek political asylum in the US. However, they are unexpectedly teleported back to Belarus through a mysterious quantum technology developed by scientists under a dictatorial regime. Hunted as criminals in their homeland, the couple must repair their strained relationship to secure their return to safety.

“It’s not an effects-heavy film, but a grounded version of our reality with the assumption that this technology exists. It allows anyone nostalgic about Belarus to be immediately teleported back. Unfortunately, it works only one way, as only Belarusian memories are stored on the server,” Zhuk explained to Variety.

“For some, this technology is a nightmare. My protagonists are wanted for political activism, making it unsafe for them to return,” Zhuk added.

Together with Zamirovskaya, Zhuk chose to use genre filmmaking to tackle issues that might be challenging to address in a more realistic drama.

“Satire and science fiction provide the necessary distance from the harsh reality of the current dictatorial regime, allowing us to examine the emotional trauma resulting from the failed revolution in Belarus in 2020. We aim to open this story to a broader audience unfamiliar with current events,” Zhuk said.

Previously, Zhuk’s 2018 drama “Crystal Swan” was selected by Belarus as its submission for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the Oscars. It was the country’s first submission in 22 years.

“It opened a lot of doors,” she recalled. Since then, Zhuk has written and directed for various platforms, including Apple TV+, FX/Hulu, Netflix (with the detective drama “Zato”), and Amazon Europe (“Russian Affairs”), with some projects being quite personal, like Apple’s “Little America.”

“While making ‘Crystal Swan,’ our team reinvented how to produce a film without local film fund support. We aim to do it again with this project on a larger scale in a harsher political climate,” Zhuk said.

“Exactly What It Seems” will resonate with her previous work. “It touches on the tortured relationship with my homeland and the cracks in the American Dream experienced by new immigrants,” noted Zhuk, who studied filmmaking at Harvard University and Columbia University.

“It’s a dystopian science fiction drama exploring themes of toxic nostalgia and the quest for identity against the backdrop of a totalitarian regime. The main character, Velya, in ‘Crystal Swan’ was also searching for her identity, torn between wanting to be free in America and her roots in Belarus. This new project delves deeper into the core of self-identity and deep-seated fears,” Zhuk explained.

Estonia-based producer Volia Chajkouskaya, originally from Belarus, was selected for Locarno’s Match Me! Initiative this year. She is also developing “Mono,” a story about a woman grappling with the loss of half her hearing as a teen.

“I am thrilled about this project,” Chajkouskaya said, noting that she’s been blacklisted by the Belarusian regime. “It speaks about my homeland, a place I haven’t visited in five years, and touches on timely, universal themes of totalitarian regimes, displacement, and identity.”

“This project has an incredible team of professionals I’ve known for many years and whose work I adore. I believe we’ll find the resources needed to bring this project to life as soon as possible,” Chajkouskaya concluded.