Act & Punishment

Young artists, the feminists Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Ekaterina Samutsevich created a group that would express their ideas of female independence and liberty. That's how Pussy Riot was born, a radical combination of actionism, feminism and punk rock. The women organized happenings in public places, protested sharply against any form of discrimination, demanded equal rights for both sexes, pointed out the hypocrisy of the authorities. In February 2012 in Moscow, they went into the world's largest Orthodox church and sang "Mother of God, banish Putin", criticizing the links between Orthodox Church hierarchs and Putin. They were arrested shortly afterwards. People in many cities around the world held pickets in their defence. (Warsaw Film Festival)