Chorea

Autofiction about parenthood, genes, acceptance of diseases, and the peculiarities of loved ones.

Marina learns that her father, a radiobiologist who tested the soil after the Chernobyl disaster, died from a rare disease - Huntington's chorea. Being pregnant and panic-stricken about passing the chorea on to her son, she reflects on her perception of herself as a mother, reconsiders her father's role in her life, and the story of their mutual estrangement. In trying to understand what kind of person her father was, Marina touches on the themes of the value of human life in the Soviet Union, unspoken family traumas, and shame for her loved ones.