Theater

The Rainbow Cinema is a theaterproject by Vladlena Sandu, based on her own experiences as an adolescent. We follow a 17-year-old heroine, called Vlada, after the Chechen war. The young woman is forced to take the path of prostitution. She falls into the hands of a criminal gang that sells her in Moscow. The young heroine encounters many different men and other girls like her along her journey. The strength of The Rainbow Cinema is that Vlada never becomes a victim, no matter how violent the anecdotes. She remains keenly observant through it all, always choosing the light over the dark at the most crucial moments. As a result, she eventually manages to escape. Sandu’s testimonies are marked by her eye for detail, disarming honesty and humor. They ultimately teach the audience that you can always become who you want to be, as long as you keep believing that.

Vladlena Sandu was born in her father’s homeland of Crimea in 1982. After her parents divorced, she moved to her mother’s native city of Grozny in the Chechen Republic. She lived through six years of war as a child and teenager. In 1998 she emigrated to mainland Russia and received the status of an Internally Displaced Person. In 2011 she graduated from Rodchenko Art School. In 2016 she graduated from the VGIK, where she studied film directing on a BA course led by Alexei Uchitel. In 2019 she graduated from Boris Yukhananov’s Studio of Independent Direction. In March 2022 after Russia invaded Ukraine she became a refugee for the second time. Today she lives and works in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Credits: 
Text: Vladlena Sandu and Lena Tronina
Actresses: Ali Zijlstra and Vladlena Sandu
Translations: Dasha van Amsterdam and Purni Morell
Artistic support: Paulien Geerlings and Nina van Tongeren (de Toneelmakerij), 
Elike Roovers (Frascati)
Choreographic support: Polina Mirovskaya
Technical support: Barbara de Beer (Frascati)
Co-production: de Toneelmakerij, Frascati Producties.