Diagnosis: Dissent

Andrii Dovzhenko uncovers a harrowing secret long buried in the USSR: many accused of “anti-Soviet propaganda” were not imprisoned but confined to special psychiatric hospitals, diagnosed with “slow progressive schizophrenia.” Plunged into the grim reality of punitive psychiatry, Andrii must make an agonizing decision—collaborate with the KGB to reunite with his family or expose the horrifying truth about dissidents tortured in these institutions. The script draws inspiration from the memoirs of Soviet dissidents, revealing the brutal use of “punitive psychiatry” as a tool to silence free thinkers in a totalitarian regime.