DOC - A Complete Human

Documentary Feature

Title: A Complete Human

TRT: 01:20:00

Project Status: In Production

Logline 

A mother’s escape from repression and domestic violence in Russia becomes a creative act as she invites the next generation to define what it means to be human.

Synopsis

In suburban South Charlotte, North Carolina, a quiet, urgent experiment unfolds. Ekaterina is a young mother of three, a speech therapist, and a political refugee who fled Russia in 2023 after protesting the war in Ukraine. Threatened with imprisonment by her abusive ex-husband — she left within two days, traveling two months with her children before arriving in the United States on asylum. As she rebuilds her life, she begins designing something simple but radical: a collaborative, in-person game for young people navigating displacement and searching for their voice.

Set in a near-future where machines pass for humans, the game asks players to discover the robots among them — and in doing so, define the value of life over machine. Through feedback and play-tests, Ekaterina's children and their peers shape the game as much as it shapes them, forming the film's irrepressible collective moral voice: a chorus pessimistic about rising global violence and instability, yet luminously clear about what matters.

A Complete Human is an intimate feature documentary grounded in the little-understood post-Soviet immigrant community in the American South. It refuses the usual reduction of migrants, especially women and children, to victims or political subjects, centering its participants through their power to imagine. It arrives at a moment of urgent global conversation about democracy, repression, human rights, artificial intelligence, and finding home in times of upheaval. Players and audience alike embark on a quest to prevent the robots from winning, asking — how do we remain human in systems that challenge that possibility?

Additional Project Info

Having emigrated as a child from Russia in 1992 with her family, and whose heritage is both Russian and Ukrainian, director Varvara Degtiarenko feels firsthand the cultural nuances of the film’s context as well as the difficulty of adapting as a child without having tools to express herself, which has made a significant impact on her voice and work. She is also personally tied to the generational waves of emigration from the post-Soviet space to the American South; her family moved to Williamsburg, Virginia, and her parents, for example, were then the same age as Ekaterina. Ekaterina and Varvara met in New Orleans during the summer 2024, where they learned that they share much in common; they are the same generation, both had activist experiences in Russia, and have both experienced the trauma of relationship violence. They also both share a passion for creative, in-person connection, games as a mode of self-discovery, and desire to affect positive change. After Ekaterina’s move to Charlotte in the fall of 2024, they maintained a close friendship. As Ekaterina expressed that her children began to experience the similar issues adapting as Varvara did in childhood, and began developing her game, the pieces fell together and the film’s journey began.

It intuitively emerged at the intersection of several important themes: in-person play and creativity as ways to restore agency, women's and children's rights as human rights, the threat of unchecked artificial intelligence, war’s violence as always reaching beyond the frontline, and a community's struggles as universal. As more of our lives are spent online and isolated, greater effort is needed to create spaces to meet in-person in order to develop oneself, learn valuable life skills, and build society. The Russo-Ukrainian War has reshaped our world, yet the human cost on families rebuilding their lives in exile is invisible, and understanding of the war itself easily distorted. The film also refuses the usual reduction of immigrants to victims or political subjects, particularly women and children, centering its participants instead through their power to imagine. The film offers a missing story and tools at a moment of urgent global conversation about democracy, repression, finding home in times of upheaval, and the value of life over machine.

Team

Director: Varvara Degtiarenko

Seeking

The film is seeking producing partners and funding, as well as leads or introductions to production or distribution companies or platforms that would be interested in the themes and issues outlined above. We also welcome and appreciate your time in suggesting recommendations for organizational connections (non-profits or aligned companies), grants, labs, residencies, retreats or other filmmaker or participant mentorship or support. Thank you!

Rights Available

All rights available

Contact

Varvara Degtiarenko

varvaradegtiarenko@gmail.com