One of the farthest-flung republics of contemporary Russia is Sakha (also known as Yakutia) in the northeastern corner of Siberia. Although the population hovers only around 100,000, the vast snowy expanse forms the largest territory of any subnational governing body in the world. Since it is also home to one of earth’s most extreme climates, settlements are few and far between. This unforgettable drama follows a female healer named Scarecrow (Valentina Romanova-Chyskyyray) who lives as a social outcast on the outskirts of one such settlement. While many of her neighbors shun her by day, it doesn’t prevent them from creeping to her dilapidated cottage by night to beg for her help, for the powers she wields are real. But she uses them at the expense of her own life energy. Unfolding at the intersection of cultures, writer-director Dmitrii Davydov’s haunting drama is both specific and universal, powerfully depicting kindness, self-sacrifice and a mother’s pain.