Copyright: Open Sociaty Institute Assistance Foundation-Tajikistan, The Network Women's Program of the Open Society Institute, The Institute for Social and Gender Policy (Russia)
This report from a women's prison tells about a recent but already widespread calamity . Economic hardship and political chaos have led many Tajik women to become, out of sheer necessity, "live containers", smuggling heroin inside themselves. These women, who led ordinary lives yesterday, could not possibly be called criminals. The government recognizes this and occasionally amnesties those women who were caught with relatively "small" (by Tajik standards) amount of drugs. Yet, despite their sincere repentance and their joy at being liberated, there is no guarantee that life will not make them go down this terrible path again. This film is part of the Gender Montage: Paradigms in Post Soviet Space film series.